Burton tours Richmond's new stands and approves

RICHMOND, Va. -- "The best track now has the best view."

With that, Nextel Cup Series driver Jeff Burton Tuesday succinctly summed up his first visit to Richmond International Raceway since work started last fall on the track's new 7,843 seat, 180-foot high grandstand.

With the grandstand approximately 95 percent complete, Burton took a tour of the three-tiered structure and to meet with the media to help preview the track's NASCAR doubleheader weekend May 4-5. Burton will drive the No. 29 Chevrolet in the Busch Series race on Friday night before taking the wheel behind his No. 31 Chevrolet in the Cup Series race on Saturday evening.

"I can't wait to get back here and race," Burton said of the .750-mile oval. "This is my favorite track that we go to and it has the best racing."

While standing at the highest point of the grandstand -- which is the tallest structure in Henrico County and two feet taller than the Richmond International Airport Tower -- Burton was amazed at the view.

"This is incredible," he said. "Whoever is lucky enough to have a seat in this grandstand has one heck of a view. Even from a driver's point of view, I'm standing up here seeing things I've never seen before."

Burton also took time to shake hands with and thank a 100-person construction crew for their hard work on the project.

"I have family in the construction business, so I know how difficult some projects can be," he said. "What you have all done here so far is amazing, and keeping a project of this magnitude on schedule is not easy. I can't wait to see it when it is finished."

Burton toured all three levels of the new Commonwealth Grandstand, including the 700-person club level called TORQUE. That level has 16,000 square feet of indoor space, open areas for buffet stations and bars, along with outdoor seating for 700. The season ticket package that is still available for TORQUE also includes parking and pre-race pit passes for each race, along with a $250 food credit.

Over the next 10 days, the construction crew will install plumbing fixtures, lay carpet and tile, install more than 60 televisions and pave the ground underneath the grandstand.

The other phase of the project is the removal of nearly 3,000 low-row seats in turns three and four. With the removal of those seats and the additional 7,843 seats in the new Commonwealth Grandstand, Richmond International Raceway's capacity will rise by 4,932 from 107,097 to 112,029.