Martinsville Race Report

No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge
October 19, 2008
.526-mile Martinsville (Va.) Speedway

RACE RESULTS:
1. Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet
2. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Chevrolet
3. Carl Edwards, Ford
4. Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet
5. Denny Hamlin, Toyota
25. Chad McCumbee, No. 45 Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil Dodge
37. Bobby Labonte, No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge

Jimmie Johnson dominated his way to victory in Sunday’s Tums Quikpak 500 at the Martinsville Speedway by leading 339 laps. Johnson, who is looking to become the first driver to win three consecutive Sprint Cup championships since Cale Yarborough did it from 1976-78, now leads the ‘Chase for the Sprint Cup’ by 149 points.

Bobby Labonte and the No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge team finished 37th on Sunday. Labonte, making his 32nd start at the half-mile oval, was looking to add to his career totals of one win and six top-five finishes at the track. The team had a fast car in the ‘spring’ race at Martinsville and had confidence going into the race that they were even better prepared this time. When the green flag fell, Labonte had to deal with a car that was ‘loose’ getting into and off of the flat corners, with no forward ‘bite.’ Forward ‘bite’ is necessary to pass coming off of the corners and crew chief Jeff Meendering quickly began to work on this condition. This began to improve and Labonte began turning very fast lap times by the middle portion of the race. However, on lap 256 he was hit from behind to bring out a caution. The damage was minimal and the crew did a great job in making repairs to the car. Looking to come home with a solid finish, on lap 432 Labonte radioed that something felt wrong in the drive train. A broken rear end gear was diagnosed and the problem forced Labonte behind the wall for repairs, virtually ending his day.

“Today was a struggle,” said Labonte. “The handling just never came around like we hoped it would. The pit crew had some great stops, we were throwing a lot at the car and the guys were getting me out pretty quick. The wreck wasn’t bad. We were still running decent lap times after that. I never had any idea that the rear-end gear was going out. When you are fighting forward bite broken rear-end gears can usually happen.”

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will head to the Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway for this weekend’s Pep Boys Auto 500. Friday’s qualifying session will be telecast on ESPN2. It will be broadcast on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and Sirius Channel 128.