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Petty has best finish since Dover in 1997 | |
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NASCAR NEWS - Thursday, May 31, 2007
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Petty brings home best finish since Dover in 1997
Third-place finish moves the driver up to 26th in points
By Joe Menzer, NASCAR.COM
CONCORD, N.C. - Kyle Petty felt the need to make a house
call prior to the start of the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday at
Lowe's Motor Speedway.
He wanted to cheer up an old friend who has recently fallen
on hard times in the racing world.
"It's funny. I went and saw Michael Waltrip before the race
started," Petty said. "I think everybody knows what those
guys are going through [at Michael Waltrip Racing]. We went
through the same thing at Petty Enterprises; I went through
the same thing at Petty Enterprises, missing races. And I
told him, 'You didn't forget how to drive a racecar.
Michael Waltrip has not forgotten how to drive a racecar.'"
Apparently, neither has Kyle Petty.
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After giving his pep talk to Waltrip, who crashed during
qualifying and sat out his 11th consecutive Nextel Cup
race, Petty parlayed a strong racecar and a fuel-mileage
gamble at the end into an impressive third-place finish
in the grueling Coca-Cola 600. It was Petty's best Cup
finish -- he also placed third at Dover -- since the fall
of 1997.
That was more than 300 starts ago for Petty.
"I think for me to come out here tonight, I showed a few
people I didn't forget how to drive a racecar," Petty said
shortly after stepping out of his No. 45 Dodge on pit road
after the race. "But we've got a great team. That's what
it's all about. I'm just one piece in this cog here."
Of course, Kyle's father Richard, who owns a record 200
career Cup victories, wanted just a little bit more.
"If he had run a little harder, we could have finished a
little better," said Richard Petty, grinning. "He got a
lap behind because they stayed out too long the first time
on these tires, hoping for a caution that didn't come. Then
he had to work really hard to get it back. Once he got it
back, he was a top eight or top 10 car, no trouble."
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It became a top five car when many of the cars running
ahead of him had to pit for gas during the final 10 laps.
The younger Petty knew he was cutting it close, but crew
chief Billy Wilburn wasn't about to give up track position
at the end.
"I can drive it from here to the truck, and that's about
all," Petty said from pit road. "All I was praying for
toward the end was for there not to be a green-white
checkered [finish]. That's the way we had it figured. We
figured we had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Billy Wilburn just made a great call and it all worked out
for us."
Robbie Loomis began his Cup career at Petty Enterprises and
returned there as vice president of operations at the end
of the 2005 season after a successful run as Jeff Gordon's
crew chief at Hendrick Motorsports. Upon his return to
Petty Enterprises, he talked about how he wanted to help
rebuild the once-formidable team into a true Cup contender.
But Loomis laughed when he heard that Richard joked Kyle
perhaps could have finished higher Sunday.
"You know Richard. He's won 200 of 'em, so he always wants
more," Loomis said. "But, you know, we said from the start
of this rebuilding process that we had to crawl before we
walked. We're trying to get up walking now, but now the
challenge is to go to Dover [next week] and keep it going."
Kyle Petty said there are reasons to believe his race team
can do it. He also said Sunday was like a trip back in time
for him -- back to the days when he was winning several Cup
races while driving for Felix Sabates in the early to mid-
1990s. Of his eight career Cup wins, six came while driving
for Sabates from 1990 through the 1995 season. The other
two came earlier when Petty was driving for the Wood
Brothers in the late '80s.
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"For us, this is like I'm 21 again and I'm driving for
Felix in the Mello Yello car," said Petty, who will turn
47 years old on June 2.
"This is huge in a lot of ways. This is huge in points.
This is big for us and for Petty Enterprises. [Teammate]
Bobby [Labonte] has been able to come out and do it. We
just have not been able to come out and capitalize on our
chances."
Until Sunday night, when they finally did.
The strong finish enabled Petty to jump five spots to 26th
in points. Labonte finished a respectable 13th in the 600
and moved up two spots to 17th.
In the end, it was left to the family patriarch to sum up
the feel-good night. His trademark sunglasses removed from
his smiling face, Richard gazed into the dark night sky
at Lowe's Motor Speedway shortly after the race and did
just that.
"Finally the sun shined on us," he said. "Or I guess it
was the moon shine."
There was no better old-school way to put it for NASCAR's
most-beloved old-school team.
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