Moore Consulting Group For Petty Enterprises, Press Release

Quotes from Bobby Labonte:

“The season is four races old and we’re sitting 14th in Sprint Cup points. Obviously we’re looking to be better than that. We’re not satisfied with 14th. But, at the same time, we’ve went through a lot of change in the off-season. New faces, new facilities, new car. So 14th is not a bad spot. To put it in perspective we’re only 16 points out of the top-10. We’re not going to go out and dominate races like the ‘18’ and the ‘99’ have. Our M.O. is to stay on the lead lap and put ourselves in position at the end so that when we have capable car, we can go up and challenge for the win.”

“Bristol is this weekend and anything can happen there. It has to be the most exciting racetrack in the world. You know, NASCAR went to great lengths to try to build this new car to run on every type of track. From short tracks, like Bristol, to restrictor-plate tracks. It’s ironic that those tracks are really similar. Both are high-banked. You’re racing on top of each other. But most importantly, you can get caught up in a wreck that you have nothing to do with. At least Bristol is not aero-sensitive. You can let the rough side drag. That’s really why I enjoy racing therel. It’s old school racing.”

“I know fans like the Bristol ‘night’ race in the fall. It’s under the lights and it has that short-track Saturday night feel. But I think the actual racing is better this weekend. Think about it. The ‘fall’ race is in ‘The Chase.’ You’ve got the top-12 drivers out there not wanting to have a bad race. From a driver’s perspective you don’t really see those drivers getting aggressive in that race. This is the fifth race of the season. Nothing is guaranteed yet. So everyone is going to rub and lean on each other in hopes of getting into ‘The Chase’ because that is the goal.”

Bobby Labonte at Bristol Motor Speedway

Labonte’s highest finish of 2007 was eighth, which he accomplished at the fall race at Bristol Motor Speedway and the spring race at Phoenix.

Labonte has raced at BMS 30 times; he has scored three top-5 and ten top-10 finishes at the track.

Seven of Labonte’s ten top-10s at Bristol have been recorded in the last eight years and all three of his top-5 finishes there have been recorded in the past six years.

The driver has also started the race within the top-10 on ten occasions. His best qualifying position at the track is third which he has achieved twice, in 1999 and 2006.

Of a possible 14,846 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway, Labonte has completed 13,954 (94.0%) including 60 laps led. His average start at the track is 18.8 and average finish is 18.6.

Are you concerned that the top groove didn’t work during last season’s fall race after the track was re-surfaced?

“Anytime you get the opportunity to run (a groove) somewhere else, you’re going to figure out how to do that. It’s a whole lot easier to drive on the outside than it is to move guys out of the way. During the Nationwide race, I was able to run the top groove and we were wicked fast. So, I did that in my Cup car, too. We were really fast during Friday’s practice. I was running the high line and everything was good. But for half the race, I was trying to make that work and I had to give up on it. Once I gave up on it, we got good and up through the pack we started coming. I don’t know why it happened but it did and it won’t stay like that for long.”

Assess your late-race battle with Kyle Busch and overall performance in last year’s race.

“We ran really well there. The AT&T Chevy was good on long runs and we caught the strategy right. Scott Miller did a great job calling the race and got us in position to win. We missed a win by half a car length but we ran well and I think we learned a lot. Now the track is different so we have to re-learn everything but we feel good about where we are.”

From a driver’s standpoint, what are your thoughts on this weekend’s race?

“You are going to have to trust the fact that the racing is going to be better at Bristol, better than it’s ever been. The race will be very competitive and will be more exciting. We learned a lot about the Impala SS and the best races are ahead of us.”

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