Labonte Scores Top-15 at Richmond

FINAL RESULTS:
1. Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet
2. Kyle Busch, Chevrolet
3. Denny Hamlin, Chevrolet
4. Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet
5. Kurt Busch, Dodge
15. Bobby Labonte, #43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge
25. Kyle Petty, #45 Merchant’s Tire and Auto Centers Dodge

OVERVIEW:

Petty Enterprises, again, walked away from Richmond International Raceway with a pair of top 25 finishes on Sunday. The organization has 15 wins at the track and 60 top-10 finishes in their storied history. Sunday’s race again showed the team’s talents at the short track.

Bobby Labonte and the #43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge team finished 15th after starting 18th in Sunday’s event. Labonte battled back from a lap down after fighting off an ill-handling machine on Sunday. The Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge was tight all afternoon, but the team made changes on every pit stop. The team constantly made various chassis adjustments. The team sat in the 18th position throughout the later stages once Labonte regained his spot on the lead lap. A late-race adjustment and a hard-charging Labonte moved their finishing position to 15th at the end. It was a team effort that awarded the team two spots in the championship chase. Labonte is now 18th as the team battles for a spot in the championship chase. They are 117 points out of the 12th spot.

“We made up three laps last week at Talladega and finished 20th, and we made up a lap today and finished 15th,” said Labonte. “If we keep that up we’ll stay on the lead lap and get a top 10 soon. We definitely weren’t good enough today, but we’re making progress. We’re just not quite as good as we need to be. Maybe we should have stayed out for track position a couple of times, but we kept pitting trying to make the car better. Now we’re heading to Darlington, and that’s going to be a hard race. It’s always a hard race, but it’s Darlington. You never expect Darlington to be easy.”

Kyle Petty and the #45 Merchant’s Tire and Auto Centers Dodge team moved up 10 positions from their starting spot to finish 25th Sunday. Petty and the team now have five top-25 finishes and are moving up in points. Petty is 31st in championship standings. The team also worked on the handling of their car, but it was track position that really hurt the team’s chances of a higher finish. Petty worked traffic all afternoon, but was consistently one of the faster cars in his pack. Petty eventually broke through and raced to 25th.

“Track position was tough today, but the guys did a good job,” said Petty. “We just kept making changes and had to start at the end of the line. We worked our way up each time, but track position is tough. The guys still did a good job in the pits. Billy (Wilburn) made good calls all day. We gained some points on a few of those guys too.”

Jimmie Johnson made it four-for-four for Hendrick Motorsports in Car of Tomorrow races Sunday afternoon during the rain makeup of the Richmond 400 at the Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. The defending series champion led a trio of teammates that finished in the top five.

Sunday was the rain date for Saturday night’s scheduled race. Teams came back and started from “scratch” after NASCAR ran a dozen laps under the caution flag Saturday night before rain pushed the rain to Sunday. Jeff Gordon started from the pole, but it was his teammate Jimmie Johnson who scored his fourth win of the season. Johnson battled teammates Gordon and Kyle Busch for the win. Denny Hamlin came on strong at the end and broke up the Hendrick party to finish third. Kurt Busch was the days best Dodge and finished fifth. Johnson moved into second place in championship points with the win. He trails his car owner Jeff Gordon. Johnson, however, now has four wins. The wins come with 10 extra bonus points when the field is set for the championship chase at the end of the season.

The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series heads to the 1.336-mile Darlington (S.C.) Raceway for next Saturday night’s Dodge Avenger 500. The race will be televised live by FOX and broadcast live on MRN Radio.