Jeff Burton likes RCR-DEI partnership

Jeff Burton said he is excited about the partnership Richard Childress Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc. made Friday to combine their engine programs.
Burton, who drives the No. 31 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, said his team needed to find a way to compete with some of the other teams in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series that have similar arrangements.
"I think that one of the things that it allows us to do is to put a lot more resources into our engine department," Burton said. "If you look at where Hendrick is, you look at where Roush, Yates are, they have a huge percentage of the field. They have a lot more money, a lot more resources to deal with. This puts us in that same ball park."
The first engines are expected to be produced for both teams for the July race at Daytona International Speedway.
"I think that certainly is a step in the right direction," Burton said. "I am excited about it. It's a whole lot of work ahead of them, it's a whole lot of stuff that has got to change in order to make all of this happen but I think that the concept is really good."