Top-30 drivers: Bobby Labonte
By Jeff Owens
Monday, December 17, 2007
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Bobby Labonte is making the best out of a tough situation. His Petty Enterprises team is understaffed and underfunded compared to the bigger Cup teams, but Labonte showed for the second consecutive year that the two-car team can compete with the big boys. Labonte finished 18th this season, ahead of 12 drivers whose teams field three or more cars.
Labonte, the 2000 Cup champion from Corpus Christi, Texas, is one of NASCAR's most-respected veterans. The 43-year-old spent 11 years with Joe Gibbs Racing, where he finished 12th or higher in the season standings nine times before joining Petty Enterprises in 2006. He pocketed $4.5 million this season in purses.
During the offseason, SceneDaily is taking a look at the top 30 in 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup driver points, and here's how Labonte's season unfolded:
By the numbers: Labonte had three top-10 finishes, including two in car of tomorrow races (Phoenix in the spring and Bristol in the fall). He started races inside the top 10 a total of eight times and mostly stayed out of trouble, recording just three DNFs (two because of crashes).
Season highlights: Labonte finished eighth at Phoenix and Bristol, and was extremely competitive in some of the "old car" races: the second Michigan race (started fourth, finished ninth), the two Charlotte races (average start of 8.5, average finish of 12.5), the fall California race (started 11th, finished 11th) and the November race at Texas (started 13th, finished 16th).
Key setbacks: Only three drivers participated in all 36 Cup races and failed to record a top-five finish: Labonte, David Stremme and Elliott Sadler. Also, Labonte finished below where he started in 21 of the 36 races.
Newsworthy moment: Labonte and crew chief Paul Andrews parted ways in August after less than a year together. Petty Enterprises hired Doug Randolph to replace Andrews, but Randolph announced he would leave the team at the end of the season. In the weeks following the Homestead race, Petty announced it had hired Jeff Meendering, who had previously been the car chief for Jeff Gordon's No. 24 car at Hendrick Motorsports. The team is also moving its shop from Randleman, N.C., to Mooresville in an effort to be more competitive and tap into some of the talented crew members available in the Charlotte area.
In his words: "Every year it gets harder and harder and tougher and tougher. That's what so great about competition. If you don't want to be doing it or you can't do it, you don't need to be doing it or you work harder to get better. That's always a great challenge."
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Bobby Labonte
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