Despite Pit-Road Penalty, Labonte is Encouraged by 14th at Dover

DOVER, Del., Sunday, Sept. 26, 2004 – Despite a pit-road penalty at the midway point in the race, Bobby Labonte managed to finish 14th in the MBNA America 400 Sept. 26 at Dover International Speedway.

Ryan Newman dominated the event, leading 325 of the 400 laps en route to victory.

Labotne started sixth in the No. 18 MBNA Chevrolet and fell to 17th by the time the first caution came out on Lap 13 for Raybestos Rookie Kasey Kahne’s blown engine. Labonte was complaining of tight-loose condition, so throughout the next two pit stops, the MBNA crew worked to correct that with a series of tire pressure, track-bar and spring rubber adjustments.

After a brief red-flag period due to Matt Kenseth’s accident at the entrance to pit road, Labonte restarted in 18th on Lap 126 after a third pit stop to correct the loose-tight condition.

By Lap 261, Labonte was in 10th-place with a good-handling race car. Then, while entering pit road on Lap 264, Labonte spun the car after he passed over the commitment line on pit lane. That resulted in a drive-through penalty on the next lap and Labonte found himself in 20th-place, two laps down.

“We lost one of our laps when we spun entering pit road and had to come in for a drive-through penalty,” Labonte said. “I looped it after the commitment line and that cost us a little bit. I think that’s only my second pit road penalty in my career. We had one at The Winston a couple of years ago during qualifying. Despite that though, we still had a good run compared to what we’ve had the last few races and that’s encouraging.”

Labonte fought back from the penalty and managed to stay in the top-20 throughout the remainder of the race and finished 14th, two laps down.

It was Labonte’s best result since he finished 11th Aug. 15 at Watkins Glen. It’s only his second top-15 since he finished seventh July 3 at Daytona.

“We had a good run,” Labonte said. “We’re getting a little bit better, and we learned some things this weekend. We were pretty fast at the end. We’re learning and gathering information and that’s important. The guys are working hard and we’ll continue to work hard.”

Labonte gained one spot in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series point standings moving from 14th to 13th. He has 3,367 points and is seven behind 12th-place Kevin Harvick and seven points ahead of 14th-place Kahne.

The next NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series event is the EA Sports 500 Oct. 3 at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Ala.

The race starts at 2:30 p.m. (EDT), and will be broadcast live on NBC and MRN.