Labonte to start 28th in Fontana

QUALIFYING RESULTS:

1. Kurt Busch, Dodge, 39.016 seconds, 184.540 miles per hour
2. Brian Vickers, Chevrolet, 39.120 seconds, 184.049 miles per hour
3. Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 39.236 seconds, 183.505 miles per hour
4. Scott Riggs, Dodge, 39.302 seconds, 183.197 miles per hour
5. Martin Truex, Chevrolet, 39.355 seconds, 182.950 miles per hour
28. Bobby Labonte, Dodge, 40.072 seconds, 179.677 miles per hour
35. Kyle Petty, Dodge, 40.282 seconds, 178.740 miles per hour

FONTANA, CA (September 1, 2006) - The Nextel Cup Series headed to the two-mile California Speedway, located in the city of Fontana, for the second time this season. Teams qualified Friday afternoon for Sunday’s SONY HD 500. Forty-seven cars attempted qualifying attempts during a warm and sunny afternoon. Temperatures reached above 90 degrees. Drinking water was a must for drivers and crew as was finding grip on a very slick track. Kurt Busch won his second consecutive pole Friday. Busch had the best lap of the day beating out Brian Vickers who had been fast all afternoon. Clint Bowyer will start third.

Labonte and the #43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge team made serious strides on Friday. Labonte was 43rd fastest in the morning practice session after running a lap of 41.305 seconds. Labonte was faster earlier in the session, but changes set back the Cheerios Dodge. The crew adjusted the car again for qualifying and Labonte picked up over a second. Labonte qualified 28th.

“That was a better lap,” said Labonte. “We were fair in practice, but we made a lot of changes for qualifying. We really picked it up in qualifying. We got a lot better on that run. We need to make a few more changes to get it really good. We’ll try to do that on Saturday.”

Petty and the #45 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge team qualified 35th for Sunday’s race. Petty was 33rd fastest in the morning practice session after running a lap of 40.833 seconds. Petty ran his best lap of the day in qualifying with a lap of 40.282 seconds at a speed of 178.740 miles per hour.

“Yea, that wasn’t too bad today,” said Petty. “We worked on the car and made some changes. We haven’t been that bad all day. The track will be cooler Sunday evening and we just need to concentrate on our race setup.”

Teams will have two final practice sessions on Saturday before Sunday’s 500-mile race. Sunday’s race will be televised live nationally on NBC and broadcast on MRN Radio. Race coverage begins at 7:00pm (EST).