NASCAR Cup Series

Burton finishes just shy at 'Dega

Published Oct. 23, 2011 9:50 p.m. ET

foxsports

Jeff Burton's emotions following his close call at Talladega Superspeedway had the ring of a bittersweet country song.

''I'm heart broke but at the same time, I'm happy,'' Burton said.

He was overtaken by his drafting partner and teammate Clint Bowyer near the finish line of Sunday's race, finishing second after contending for victory for the first time in a disappointing NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

Burton wasn't faulting Bowyer for disbanding their temporary partnership to take a shot at victory and said he didn't play it too nicely or do anything differently because it was his teammate.

Burton had plenty to celebrate considering the way his season had been going. He made it less than halfway through the Daytona 500 before engine troubles took him out, and then finished 26th at Phoenix.

A strong run Sunday left him tantalizingly close to Victory Lane after leading 26 laps, and a little uncertain of how to feel.

''I'm (ticked) off and I'm happy at the same time, if there's such a thing,'' said Burton, who had only one top-10 finish in the first 31 races. ''Any time you come here and you can get a top 10, have a car that's not torn up, you have to at least be somewhat happy with that. However, to come that close and to lose, is disheartening. It's always worse to lose them close.

''Since the first race at Phoenix, we haven't been in a position to win a race. We haven't sniffed it, and that is awful. It's terrible to come in (to the) racetrack week in and week out and leave - you come in optimistic and you leave dejected. At least the dejection is about having a good finish and not finishing at all. Of course, I'm going to go home and watch the video a thousand times and wonder what I could have done differently.''