Petty accepts missing field for Martinsville race
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Saturday, March 29, 2008
David Griffin / NASCAR Scene
MARTINSVILLE, Va. – Kyle Petty missed the field for a race for the first time since the 2004 season finale, but he is OK with NASCAR’s qualifying procedure and how he got knocked out of the 43-car Sprint Cup Series lineup at Martinsville Speedway.
The veteran driver was tied for 39th overall in speed, but not fast enough among those drivers outside the top 35 in Friday's qualifying to get into the Sprint Cup race Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.
Petty was actually tied with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Dario Franchitti for the final spot, which Franchitti got because he is higher in owners points than Petty.
“I still think the top 35 is a good deal,” Petty said Friday night after missing the race. “I’m not going to complain about the top 35.”
Among the established multicar organizations with a car outside the top 35 are Petty Enterprises, Ganassi, Dale Earnhardt Inc., Roush Fenway Racing and Gillett Evernham Motorsports.
“It’s life,” Petty said. “It goes on. I’ve been in this position before and I’ve missed races and I’ve been in this position before and I made races. … There’s good teams that are outside [the top 35].
“It’s not a bunch of small teams outside the top 35 trying to get in.”
Even Petty teammate Bobby Labonte wasn’t great in qualifying as he was 332nd overall.
“We’ve beat ourselves everywhere we’ve been,” Petty said. “If you beat yourself, there’s nothing you can do. … We didn’t miss this race today.
“We missed this race at Daytona when we had fuel-pressure problems. We missed this race at California when we had brake issues. We missed this race at Atlanta and Las Vegas when we don’t understand bump stops and they kicked our butts six ways to Sunday and we had two of them fail.
“And that was our fault. You don’t just show up at a race and miss it. You put yourself in a position months ahead of time to be in this
position and this is where you’re at."
