Labonte Qualifies In The Pink at Charlotte QUALIFYING RESULTS: 1. Ryan Newman, Dodge, 28.512 seconds, 189.394 miles per hour 2. Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 28.573 seconds, 188.990 miles per hour 3. Bobby Labonte, Dodge, 28.668 seconds, 188.363 miles per hour 4. Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 28.678 seconds, 188.298 miles per hour 5. Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 28.710 seconds, 188.088 miles per hour 42nd Kyle Petty, Dodge, 29.409 seconds, 183.617 miles per hour CONCORD, NC (October 11, 2007) - Bobby Labonte and the #43 Cheerios/Pink for the Cure Dodge team put in a stellar effort in qualifying for Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at 1.5-mile Lowe's Motor Speedway. Labonte will start the race in third, his best effort since qualifying third at Dover in June. “It was a great lap. The guys did a great job on our race car this weekend. We tore our other car up at Kansas a couple weeks ago. We brought this car out and it is the same one we had here last year. I don’t think it has been touched since. They did a great job working on it. It hasn’t seen a race track since the early part of the year. I thought our lap was great. We had a pretty uneventful lap. The car stuck really good and turned good. In practice we were getting better at it. I was really proud of everybody. It was a good effort for our race team and a good starting spot for us.” Ryan Newman won his 42nd career pole and seventh pole at the 1.5-mile Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina on Thursday night.  Newman swept the pole award at Lowe’s this year and will lead the field to the green during Saturday night’s Bank of America 500. Newman’s run Thursday night came near the conclusion of the event when the skies were dark and the temperature cool.  The conditions aided Newman in his run.  He knocked off Jimmie Johnson from the pole and wasn’t challenged in the final half dozen cars. Thursday’s qualifying session was televised live nationally by ESPN2 and broadcast on PRN Radio. Saturday night’s race will be televised live on ABC and broadcast live on PRN Radio. The race is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. (ET). Additional Post-Qualifying Quotes HOW MUCH HAVE THINGS COME TOGETHER SINCE YOU FIRST CAME TO PETTY ENTERPRISE? “Obviously it was really good for us. The restrictor plate package that we had last weekend was the best one we’ve had since I’ve been at Petty’s with Evernham’s engines. They have been getting stronger all the time but that was a big step for us. We always want to get a little better. I think that their engine program always gets better just like everyone else’s does. I think we’re gaining on it. To come here to Charlotte I think it is a good package for this track. We always run good here. We’ve run good here in the past with the Petty’s. I feel like it is one of our strongest tracks that we come to. So hopefully we can get some momentum on our side. Last weekend we had it for a while until we absolutely lost it but we’ve still been running pretty good here lately. With Doug Randolph as an addition to our race team, it has been really good. That has been helping out. I’m really proud of everybody working and getting the whole team better since I’ve been there.” DO YOU THINK THE TEAM HAS IMPROVED AS MUCH IN RACE SETUP AS YOU HAVE IN QUALIFYING? “I do. I think that one lap of qualifying is different that 400 laps of racing. We probably excel a little bit better in qualifying than we did the race. We still need to be a little bit better for 500 miles. We are getting that communication between us. We’re getting stronger as we go. Our engines are getting better. I think every team has 85 percent of what everyone else has it is just that last 10 or 15 percent that makes a difference. It is harder to get that 10 or 15 percent. I think we’re getting stronger at the races but we still lack a little bit for the whole 500 miles.”