Labonte 13th in Coca-Cola 600

FINAL RESULTS:

1. Casey Mears, Chevrolet
2. J.J. Yeley, Chevrolet
3. Kyle Petty, #45 Coke Zero Dodge
4. Reed Sorenson, Dodge
5. Brian Vickers, Toyota
13. Bobby Labonte, #43 Chocolate Chex Dodge

OVERVIEW:

CONCORD, NC (May 27, 2007) - Bobby Labonte raced the #43 Chocolate Chex Dodge Sunday evening in the Coca-Cola 600. Labonte started in the ninth position, but struggled with a ‘tight’ car at the drop of the green. The team dropped to the rear, but crew chief Paul Andrews was there to make changes. Andrews had plenty of time to make the car better during the major accident early. The Chocolate Chex Dodge immediately turned in better laps and Labonte found himself back in the top 20 after 100 laps. A caution for debris split the field and Labonte went one lap down. A restart on lap 222 put Labonte in position to get his lap back. He was also running in the 14th position. The team continued to try to find the handling on the car, but Labonte continued to race in the top 20. The team was always the “next car” to get the free pass, but the team just didn’t the luck they needed. The team dominated every other car one lap down. The Chocolate Chex team finished 13th and moved to 17th in points.

“That was a good run for Kyle tonight,” said Labonte. “He stayed out of trouble and had a good car. We stayed out of trouble, but didn’t have the car we wanted. We just couldn’t get it the way we needed. The finish helped us in points.”

Kyle Petty finished third in Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600. Petty and the #45 Coke Zero Dodge team gave the fans a lot to cheer about on Sunday evening. Petty’s third place finish is his best since the fall event at Dover in 1997.

Petty began the event in the 36th position, but it was clear he had a good car from the drop of the green flag. Aided all night by great pit crew work, Petty had his car knocking on the door of the top-25 by lap 50. Disaster nearly struck not long after as the tire from the #48 Chevrolet came off right in the path of Petty. Having nowhere to go Petty ran over the tire and did a small amount of damage to the nose of his Dodge Charger. Several pit stops to fix the damage forced Petty onto a different pit sequence than most of the other competitors. This caused him to go a lap down during green flag pit stops that took place near lap 132.

The Coke Zero crew then hit on the right setup and Petty was able to race his way to the front of the one lap down cars and earn the Lucky Dog Award on a lap 266 caution. Crew chief Billy Wilburn made great pit calls for the rest of the race.

Casey Mears is now a Nextel Cup winner. Mears, in his 156th career start, picked up one of NASCAR’s most prestigious victories. He picked up the win over another young gun that has been under speculation of as late, J.J. Yeley. Although great finishes for both drivers, it is Petty Enterprises’ driver Kyle Petty that people are talking about.

Teams continued the rest of the night off sequence. That left Petty in a great position as his team did not have to pit at the end. Petty moved from eighth, to seventh, to sixth and so on. Petty climbed to third and led the team to a morale-boosting finish. Petty moved to 26th in points.

“We had a top-ten car and we were able to get a top-five finish with it,” said Petty. “When you can do that you always feel great afterwards. But I’ll be honest with you. I have finished 35th some nights and feel like I drove and worked much harder than I did tonight. Tonight I had a great car. My pit crew, man, I can’t say enough about those guys. They knew we had a good car and didn’t try to do too much. They just gave me solid stops all night. To beat teams like Hendricks’ and Gibb’s takes an overall team effort and there is no doubt that Petty Enterprises gave a team effort tonight.”

The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series heads to the one-mile Dover International Speedway for next Sunday’s Dover 400. The race will be televised live by FOX and broadcast live on MRN Radio.