Posting consistent finsihes throughout the season, Jeff Burton started the Chase off good and assembled a fourth place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the Sylvania 300.

Noting that the performance of the car needs to heighten, Burton also expresses his joy in the results of the Chase kickoff at New Hampshire.

"It was good. We were solid all day,” Burton said. “We didn't have quite the speed those guys had. There were times in the race we did. I could see them coming back to us. There were times in the race they were better than us."

Beating Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the fourth place spot was the highlight of the race for Burton and the No. 31 AT&T team

"This is what it's all about,” Burton said. “It's playoff time now. When it's 10 to go, 20 to go, 30 to go, it's every man for himself within limits obviously. Dale and I had a great race. We never touched each other. We race each other hard. That's what it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be good, hard racing. I think you've got nine more races of that coming."

Even though it wasn't a win, Burton left New Hampshire all smiles on Sunday.

“It was a solid day for us. We ran pretty much top five most of the day, and that's what we ended up getting. Proud of everybody. We had no idea what we had coming into the race today, and the guys did a great job getting us ready. One down, nine to go."

With nine more races to prove that he is the best driver in NASCAR, Burton looks ahead to Dover.

Burton finished eighth in the Best Buy 400 benefiting Student Clubs for Autism Speaks ran in June.