Overtime Effort Lands Petty, Labonte On Lead Lap at Finish of UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400
Overtime Effort Lands Petty, Labonte On Lead Lap at Finish of UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400
LAS VEGAS (March 12, 2006) – Petty Enterprises drivers Bobby Labonte and Kyle Petty worked overtime Sunday afternoon and finished on the lead lap of the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400, placing 30th and 29th, respectively, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
A late caution for debris forced the race to finish under NASCAR’s green-white-checkered flag rule, extending the prescribed distance of 267 laps to 270. Labonte and Petty were among a group of 29 drivers who finished on the lead lap with race winner Jimmie Johnson.
Petty’s 29th-place finish in the No. 45 Wells Fargo Dodge marked an improvement of 10 positions over his starting spot. He also received five bonus points for leading a lap with the field under caution just 52 miles from the finish. Likewise, Labonte’s No. 43 Cheerios / Betty Crocker Dodge led briefly about two-thirds of the way through the event with the field under caution and teams making pit stops.
Labonte, in fact, was running in the top 15 near mid-race but was not able to sustain a charge toward the top 10 and faded in the closing stages to finish 30th.
The victory for Johnson enabled him to maintain his lead in the NEXTEL Cup Series standings. The rest of Sunday’s top five consisted of Matt Kenseth, who finished second; Kyle Busch, third; Kasey Kahne, fourth; and Jeff Gordon, who was fifth.
Petty and Labonte are 33rd and 36th, respectively, in the series point standings heading into the next race on the schedule, the March 19 Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. http://www.bobbylabonte.com/news/06_...60312_race.php
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Labonte Leads Early But Engine Woes Lead to Disappointing Finish
Kyle Petty Carries Banner to Eighth-Place Finish at Atlanta
HAMPTON, Ga. (March 20, 2006) – After showing plenty of muscle by leading early in the race, Bobby Labonte’s No. 43 Cheerios/Pillsbury Bake-Off Dodge was sidelined by engine failure after completing just 56 of the 325 laps in the rain-delayed Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
After starting fourth in the 43-car field, Labonte (a six-time winner at AMS) jumped out to lead a total of 13 laps. He took charge by diving low in the corners and picking off the three cars directly in front of him. On the second lap, he moved into second place. By lap three, he passed Ryan Newman to take the lead.
Following the first caution period of the day and a round of pit stops, Labonte restarted in third place – trailing Kasey Kahne and Greg Biffle – and soon reported that his No. 43 Dodge was starting to slide the right front tire through the corners. When the second caution flag flew on lap 43, Labonte brought the car down pit road for another four-tire change and restarted in fifth.
It was less than 10 laps after that when Labonte slowed coming off the second turn, victimized by engine failure.
“It’s OK, guys,” Labonte said. “We got it up-front, there, and had a great run. Everybody keep your head up on this one.”
For Kyle Petty, waiting an extra day to run the Golden Corral 500 was well worth it. The driver of the No. 45 National Tire & Battery (NTB) Dodge rallied from his No. 32 starting position with a late charge toward the front of the field and came away with an eighth-place finish, his first top-ten since Dover (Fall) of 2005.
The race was won by pole-sitter Kasey Kahne; with the rest of the top five comprised of Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart.
For the Petty teams, there was good news and bad news from Monday's race
By DAVID POOLE
The Charlotte Observer
Bobby Labonte led 13 of the first 16 laps in Monday's race in the No. 43 Dodge owned by Petty Enterprises, but an engine problem took him out after just 56 laps and he wound up finishing last.
"It's frustrating, but it's part of the process we're going through right now," Labonte said. "We're trying to get consistent. It hasn't been a fun start, but it has been a promising start in some fashion. We just have to keep ourselves above water and know we're gaining. That's just the way it is."
Teammate Kyle Petty, conversely, started slowly but kept improving and stayed on the track after the final yellow as others had to make late pit stops. Petty moved all the way up to eighth at the checkered flag.
"We have been struggling with pit stops, but our guys stepped it up today," Petty said. "We adjusted wrong one time. I told them to go the wrong way. It was my fault. They should have known better than to listen to the driver." http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/spo...s/14145600.htm
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Fortunes finally starting to turn for Labonte
Top-five run at Bristol just what doctor ordered for hard-luck team
By Jarrod Breeze, NASCAR.COM
March 27, 2006
09:56 AM EST (14:56 GMT)
BRISTOL, Tenn. -- The half-glass at Petty Enterprises finally looks more full than empty.
Since preseason testing the team has been brimming with optimism. The additions of championship driver Bobby Labonte and crew chief Todd Parrott to the No. 43 team and former crew chief Robbie Loomis to executive vice president of operations provided a glimmer of hope to restoring the Petty mystique.
But four races into the 2006 season, Petty's two-car race team was at no closer to the front than it had been since the days of King Richard himself. Kyle Petty was an improved 24th in points, but Labonte was 38th, seven spots and 77 points behind the man he replaced in the 43, Jeff Green.
But all that changed on Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway. Labonte finished fifth in the Food City 500, the first top-five for the No. 43 since John Andretti finished second almost five years ago to the day.
Labonte takes his turn in spotlight with fifth-place finish at Bristol
BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 26, 2006) – Bobby Labonte brought the month of March to a close in a big way for Petty Enterprises, steering the No. 43 Cheerios / Betty Crocker Dodge to a fifth-place finish in Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Coming on the heels of teammate Kyle Petty’s eighth-place run a week earlier at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Sunday’s effort by Labonte puts both Petty Enterprises teams among the elite top 35 in car owner points – the benchmark used to guarantee starting spots beginning with next weekend’s DIRECTV 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
Petty also had a solid run Sunday, finishing 18th in the No. 45 Schwan’s Dodge.
After starting 30th in the 43-car field, Labonte patiently worked traffic and had advanced to 23rd place by lap 130. Although his car was not perfect, a series of adjustments helped balance the chassis and Labonte continued his methodical march toward the front – charging into the top 15 before the mid-point of the 500-lap marathon.
He rolled into the top 10 at lap 324 and soon began applying pressure on the cars in front of him. Labonte steered through six caution periods over the final 162 laps, avoided serious contact with other competitors and notched his best finish of the young season. http://www.bobbylabonte.com/news/06_...60326_race.php
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Labonte Finishes 32nd at Martinsville - Petty Family Honored Before Race
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (April 2, 2006) - A day that began with honors for Richard and Kyle Petty ended with both Petty Enterprises cars racing to the finish of Sunday's DIRECTV 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
. . .
Petty was involved in the first incident of the afternoon, a four-car melee on the second lap that damaged the hood of his No. 45 Dodge. Despite the rough start, Petty soon found his rhythm and avoided additional contact as the race approached the halfway mark.
Suddenly, he radioed in that he felt a strong vibration. A short time later, Petty was parked in the garage as his crew replaced the rear end gear. Ironically, teammate Labonte had been sidelined with the same problem a few stalls down in the garage area. They both returned to complete the race some 50 laps later.
"Something had to have been wrong in the setup of the rear end gear," said Robbie Loomis, executive vice president of racing operations at Petty Enterprises. "We'll check it and find out what it was. Both cars were solid in their (lap) times compared to the competition." http://www.bobbylabonte.com/news/06_...60402_race.php
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