2000 Brickyard Champ to start 38th in 2006

QUALIFYING RESULTS:

1. Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 49.240 seconds, 182.778 miles per hour
2. Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 49.242 seconds, 182.771 miles per hour
3. Kurt Busch, Dodge, 49.247 seconds, 182.752 miles per hour
4. Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 49.331 seconds, 182.441 miles per hour
5. Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 49.386 seconds, 182.238 miles per hour
38. Bobby Labonte, Dodge, 50.435 seconds, 178.448 miles per hour
40. Kyle Petty, Dodge, 50.555 seconds, 178.024 miles per hour

SPEEDWAY, IN (August 5, 2006) - It’s known in the NASAR Nextel Cup garage as one of the biggest events of the season. The Brickyard 400 at the famed 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway has all the racing’s world attention this weekend. Activities kicked off Friday afternoon with a pair of practice sessions. Teams worked on qualifying setups for Saturday morning. Saturday morning teams were greeted by sunny skies and warm temperatures. They lined their cars up and 50 cars attempted to qualify for Sunday’s running of the Brickyard 400. Jeff Burton, taking advantage of an early qualifying draw, won his first Brickyard 400 pole. Burton just beat out his Richard Childress Racing teammate Clint Bowyer for the pole. The newly married Kurt Busch qualified third.

Bobby Labonte and the #43 Totino’s MEGA Pizza Rolls Dodge team qualified 38th on a slick track Saturday. Labonte picked up nearly six-tenths of a second on his qualifying run. The Totino’s MEGA Dodge team has been getting each time they hit the track. Labonte, a former winner of this race in 2000, is led by crew chief Todd Parrott. Parrott is also a former winner at the Brickyard

“We’ve been working on some things,” said Labonte. “We have some room to improve, but we’ve got the right people to do it. Todd (Parrott) knows how to win here. We’ll keep working on the car in the final practice sessions.”

Petty and the #45 Tire Kingdom Dodge team qualified 40th for Sunday’s race. Petty, however, like Labonte picked up considerably from his best time on Friday. Petty ran a lap over one second better on Saturday. It was Petty’s best time of the weekend. The team had two more practice sessions before Sunday’s race.

“That lap wasn’t bad at all,” said Petty. “We made a lot of improvements with that run, but we need to be a little better. This is a long race and a lot of things can happen. Paul (crew chief Paul Andrews) is really good at calling a race here. We’ll see how it all shakes out on Sunday.”

Teams have two final practice sessions on Saturday before Sunday’s 400-mile race. Sunday’s race will be televised live nationally on NBC and broadcast on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway radio network. Race coverage begins at 2:30pm (EST).