Burton: Rookie McDowell needs to ‘learn some manners’
And the Richard Childress Racing driver left Martinsville Speedway on Sunday as the leader – the points leader – and looking to become the teacher – to Michael Waltrip Racing rookie Michael McDowell.
Burton finished third in the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 but felt as if he got held up by the lapped car of McDowell in trying to catch eventual race-winner Denny Hamlin.
McDowell was making his Sprint Cup debut.
“We had something [for Hamlin]," Burton said. “We started coming back on him, and then that kid in the 00 [McDowell], he’s going to learn some manners or I’m going to teach them to him. He can choose it however he wants it but it will be one way or the other."
McDowell, a former sports-car racer who shined on the ARCA circuit last year, understood Burton’s frustration.
“When the 11 [of Hamlin] got underneath, I let him go and I ran with him for seven laps on his bumper," McDowell said. “When the 31 [of Burton] put a nose in there, I let him go. I never held him up. But I guess he was a little bit upset. I understand that."
McDowell said he planned on going to talk with Burton. He wanted to explain he was trying to keep pace with David Gilliland, who was on the same lap as him.
“If I felt I was holding him up, I would have moved," McDowell said. “At the same time the 11 was trying to pass [Gilliland]. More at Scenedaily.com