Jeff Burton didn't have the performance he had hoped for in the LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway but the NASCAR Cup Series event still concluded with another top-15 finish for the No. 31 AT&T Racing team.

The AT&T team maintained the second position in the season point standings with 15 of 36 points-paying races now complete. He now trails Kyle Busch by 32 points and is 52 points ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr. in third, 174 forward of Carl Edwards in fourth and 222 ahead of Jimmie Johnson in fifth.

Rain cancelled Friday's qualifying session so the 43-car field was set by owner points. That allowed the No. 31 AT&T Chevrolet Impala SS to line up on the outside of the front row for Sunday's 200-lap feature event.

A near capacity crowd filed in for a celebration of the 40th anniversary of racing at MIS. The green flag waved at 2:20 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time under warm and mostly sunny skies. An early-race caution, on lap 3, briefly slowed the field but a long green-flag run ensued on lap six. Burton called in to crew chief Scott Miller on lap 17, while running 10th, that his AT&T Chevy had no rear grip and would not turn through the corners.

He was 11th on lap 38 when Miller called him to pit road for a green-flag stop. Chassis adjustments were made to tighten up the handling and Burton was in the 13th position when the field had cycled through. Burton said the car was handling better than it had been but was still lacking both front and rear grip. He was running 19th on lap 80 when he came back down pit road for service and, specifically, another set of chassis adjustments to bring the handling into control.

The race's second caution period slowed the field on lap 92 with Burton still running 19th. A third caution 10 laps later allowed for more adjustments and the AT&T Chevy returned to racing on lap 107 in the 21st position. The 20-time Cup Series winner picked up two spots over the next 32 laps before another run down pit lane.

Cautions slowed the competition over the final 50 laps. With most of the field running low on fuel, Miller made the call under caution on lap 197 for Burton to pit and take on two tires and a splash of fuel. Unfortunately, the green/white/checkered finish did not allow the time necessary to pick up additional spots and Burton ended up 15th.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. captured his first victory of the season. Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Brian Vickers and Tony Stewart rounded out the top five finishers. Burton's Richard Childress Racing teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer finished 12th and 26th, respectively.

Next weekend the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series turns right for the first time this year when the division heads to Northern California's Wine Country and the first of two road course races on the 2008 schedule.

The Toyota/Save Mart 350 from Infineon Raceway will take the green flag Sunday, June 22 at 5 p.m. EDT. The race will be televised live on TNT beginning at 3:30 p.m. EDT and broadcast from coast-to-coast on the Performance Racing Network and Sirius Satellite Radio. Qualifying will be televised live on SPEED Friday, June 20th at 7 p.m. EDT.

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