Petty possibly viewing life outside the top 35 … or is he?
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Monday, March 10, 2008
HAMPTON, Ga. – Kyle Petty is optimistic that even though he is 40th in owners points that he could get back into the top 35.
He believes his Petty Enterprise Dodge has been better than a year ago and mechanical gremlins have hurt the finishes as he sits 81 points out of the key 35th-place spot.
“We had three bad races but I am more encouraged where we’re at than I was last year. and that is no joke,” Petty said Friday. “Our car has driven good at all three races.”
With the top 35 reverting to this year’s owners points following Bristol next week to determine the guaranteed spots in the lineup week to week, Petty does have another option to get back into the top 35 – he could swap owners points with teammate Bobby Labonte.
Labonte, as the 2000 Cup champion, would have access to a past champions provisional, if needed. Labonte, who is 14th in owners points, would still keep his driver points.
“It’s something we’ve thought about, but we haven’t talked about it [with everyone],” Petty Enterprises Executive Vice President Robbie Loomis said Sunday. “Obviously when it comes crunch time, that’s the time [to decide]. There’s so many people it involves, and you take a bunch of guys that are doing a good job and have circumstances on the other side where we haven’t got where we want to be and mix it up, it creates a lot of heartburn.
“The end result doesn’t really change anything – the driver still makes the Chase and all that stuff can still happen, it’s just a matter of the appearance of it is a hard thing. As a company, we have a lot of employees and have to look at the big picture. We’ll keep our eye on it. ”
Petty said the decision would be made by Loomis: “I haven’t thought about it because I’m not worried about it,” Petty said.
Loomis reiterated what Petty said about the team’s performance.
“I’ve been really pleased with his performance and the guys on the team,” Loomis said. “It is all around us, but we just haven’t lined it up in the right order.”
That continued Sunday, when Petty finished 41st in the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The top-35 situation also could impact who eventually replaces Petty when he steps out of the car for six races to be in the booth for
TNT’s Cup telecasts.
The team used Chad McCumbee for one race and John Andretti for the others last year and it likely will be at least another month before those plans are settled.
“We’re kind of waiting on this point deal to shake out,” Loomis said. “We have had a lot of drivers contact us about doing it. … I’m really, really big on McCumbee.
“We feel he is the right fit for Petty Enterprises. For sure we want to give him at least the Pocono race he did last year because he did
such a good job and only got to race half the race. We would like to give him more. We kicked around the idea of Terry Labonte maybe for the road course.”
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