HAMPTON, Ga. -- Jeff Burton's fourth-place finish Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway continued his strong start, but he wasn't totally pleased.

He's finished no worse than 15th in the first four races and is third in the NASCAR Nextel Cup points standings behind Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon heading to Bristol this weekend.

Burton left the race disappointed because a problem with the fueling system slowed his pit stops.

"We have been really consistent and we keep on putting ourselves in position and keep having the little things that are getting in our way," Burton said. "We kept losing spots in the pits because we had to wait for the fuel. For some reason, it just wouldn't take fuel."

Frustrating finish

Dale Earnhardt Jr. seemed set for a top-10 finish until changes on a late pit stop ruined his car's handling. He finished 14th.

"I don't know what the [heck] Tony Jr. and those guys did to the car, but it was terrible," Earnhardt said of his crew chief Tony Eury Jr. "I'm not complaining but pretty frustrated that we didn't do a better job of getting our car handling."

Getting to work

Lee White, who oversees Toyota's U.S. racing programs, will be at Michael Waltrip Racing at 7:30 a.m. today to help the team improve its performance.

Waltrip has failed to make the past three Cup races. Dale Jarrett has needed to use his champion's provisional to make each of the first four races. Rookie David Reutimann has made two of the first four races.

"We're looking at trying to plug something in without question, and admittedly, as a result of Michael Waltrip's disaster," White said before Sunday's race. "I don't see it as a disaster so much as I see it as an opportunity for us to go ahead and do something that we've been kind of held away from doing up until now."

White said a few Toyota engineers will work with Waltrip's team and build a car that could be ready for Charlotte in May.

"Charlotte is probably a realistic goal to see something that might be able to be delivered to the race track -- and it may not be the car; it may be the process that comes with the car," White said.

Under pressure

Next weekend's race at Bristol is the final time the field will be set based on last year's car owner points. Starting at Martinsville, the top 35 in car owner points at that time will be guaranteed a starting spot.

There are several teams in jeopardy of not being guaranteed a starting spot at Martinsville if they have a bad race next week.

Jeff Green's team is 35th in car owner points. Among those outside the top 35 are the Evernham Motorsports cars of Kasey Kahne (37th) and Scott Riggs (41st); Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s Paul Menard (36th); The Wood Brothers with Ken Schrader and Jon Wood (38th); Bill Davis Racing with Dave Blaney (39th); and Team Red Bull with Brian Vickers (40th).

Testing

NASCAR tested eight cars on the chassis dyno after the race to see if there is a measurable loss in power after a 500-mile race with the recent switch to unleaded fuel. Cars tested were those of winner Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kurt Busch, Dave Blaney and Dale Jarrett.

Pit stops

Robby Gordon was permitted to race with Motorola decals promoting digital audio players. Earlier in the week NASCAR had ordered Gordon to remove the decals until a conflict with series sponsor Sprint Nextel was resolved. Gordon finished 20th. ... Johnson collected $233,261 for the victory. He led a race-high 135 laps. ... Bobby Labonte's 16th-place finish was the second consecutive top-20 finish for the Petty Enterprises team.