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Labonte takes aim at ending season in top 15
By SceneDaily Staff
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
While Bobby Labonte admits that his Petty Enterprises team needs to use the final 10 NASCAR Sprint Cup races to get prepared for next season, he also has some goals left to attain this year.
Labonte enters this weekend's Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway 20th in the standings, but he wants to gain significant ground before season's end.
“These last 10 races are going to be important for everyone on the No. 43 Dodge [team]," he said. "Obviously we want to work on preparing for next season, but we also have some goals that we want to accomplish. Each year that I’ve been at Petty Enterprises we have improved on the point’s finish from the previous year. Last year we finished 18th in points.
"We are in a very good position to improve on that this year. There are a lot of tracks left on the schedule where we could easily turn in a few top-10 finishes and challenge for wins. If we can do that, we can fight our way inside the top 15.”
Labonte is currently 357 points behind the driver in 15th, Red Bull Racing's Brian Vickers.
He sees this weekend's race as a chance to gain some ground. He started second and finished 10th in this event earlier this season and is hoping to build on that performance.
"The first race at New Hampshire was probably the best all-around race that we’ve had this year," Labonte said. "The car was fast in qualifying and we started on the outside of the front row. The race didn’t play out like we wanted it to, but we were still able to get a top-10 finish. A carbon-copy of that weekend would be huge for us this week.
"We could pick up a lot of points, but it would also go a long way in establishing some consistency for us that will hopefully carry to the end of the year.”
Mentioned Drivers: Bobby Labonte
2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings
Driver Standings after the AMP Energy 500
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 6248 |
| 2 | Mark Martin | -184 |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | -192 |
| 4 | Juan Pablo Montoya | -239 |
| 5 | Tony Stewart | -279 |
| 6 | Kurt Busch | -312 |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | -340 |
| 8 | Ryan Newman | -402 |
| 9 | Kasey Kahne | -414 |
| 10 | Carl Edwards | -437 |
| 11 | Denny Hamlin | -448 |
| 12 | Brian Vickers | -556 |
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Comments
5 responses to "Labonte takes aim at ending season in top 15". Post a Comment.
Mike Broughton said:
Sep 9, 2008 at 3:46 PMI would LOVE to see Bobby and the 43 finish in the top 15. There is not a bigger 43 fan out here. However, listening in on TrackPass each week, it seems that neither he nor Jeff Meendering have a clue how to adjust the car to make it better. What about practice? What are they working on? It would seem after 26 races they would have some idea how to set up this car.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportScott Hall said:
Sep 9, 2008 at 4:59 PMI am a diehard Petty Enterpises fan and have never pulled for any other team but like the previous poster said, I too listen to Trackpass Scanner every race and I seem to hear the same complaints out of Bobby Labonte every single week. His two constant statements in every race are "No grip! No grip!" and "Loose in, tight in the middle, loose off." It seems that by now since they've been to all the tracks once with the COT that they should've been making some kind of notes as to the changes they should make for the car to run better. So far all they seemed to find is what DOESN'T work. I wont give up hope but it sure is frustrating sometimes.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportTina Redfern said:
Sep 9, 2008 at 9:45 PMEverybody is saying the same thing unless they are the leader. The only reason Jeff Gordon got in the chase over someone like Bobby is because the Dodges struggled in general and Hendrick horsepower.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportFrank Alford said:
Sep 9, 2008 at 11:40 PMI agree with Tina, It seems that with the COT most of the complaints are the same unless you are the driver running up front.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportMatthew Connors said:
Sep 11, 2008 at 11:29 PMI'm a longtime 43 fan myself, still even sport my STP gear when I want to "go retro" at the races or watching on TV with friends. But I agree with all of the first four comments from Mike, Scott, Tina and Frank. I'll only add that the "clean air" and "track position" we hear the TV and radio analysts talk about at every race are so vital to success these days. It even seemed like this was the case before the COT went full-time this season, but now it's worse, not better. Also, without any Dodges in the chase, all the dodge drivers can kind of have their own chase by seeing who finishes closest to 13th place. So the top 5 there would be Kahne, Newman, K. Busch, Bobby Labonte and then Juan Montoya. That may be something worth tracking over the last 10 races besides the chase itself. Maybe Dodge should offer a little bonus money as incentive? It could keep their teams and drivers in the news despite not having an entry in the chase.
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