Jeff Burton recorded his ninth top-10 of the season Sunday at Pocono. Credit: Autostock

Burton has top-10 run despite speeding penalty

LONG POND, Pa. -- Jeff Burton says he doesn't understand how he was ticketed for speeding when he wasn't even trying.

Burton, who led 11 laps in Sunday's Pocono 500, was running third when he was docked for speeding exiting pit road during a green-flag stop on Lap 168.

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The resulting penalty knocked Burton all the way back to 21st, ending his bid to break a losing streak that dates back to 2001.

"Actually, we were about 100 rpm lower than what we thought we could be because I knew that nobody behind us was pushing and I knew we couldn't catch anybody," said Burton, who wound up ninth. "So I'm just a little confused about it but I'll get with NASCAR and let them walk me though it and learn from it. It was disappointing."

Burton was one of four drivers caught speeding on Sunday, and three of them went on to finish in the top 10. That was little consolation for Burton, who has four consecutive top-10 finishes for the first time since 2003.

"It's interesting that a lot of people got caught," Burton said. "Like I said, if I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't have done anything different.

"That's what's confusing to me. Normally when I make a mistake, it's real clear to me. But this one is not clear to me. But again, I know they made the right call. We've just got to figure out what we did wrong."

Burton said he probably couldn't have beaten Denny Hamlin head-to-head, but he thought he could have finished second.

"We didn't have anything for [Hamlin]," Burton said. "But for everybody else, I thought we were right there with them. We had a second- or third-place car and finished ninth with it. But we'll keep fighting."