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CUP: Petty Not Sweating Top 35
Written by:
Tom Jensen
03/25/2008 - 02:40 PM
Harrisburg, N.C.
Kyle Petty. (Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR) ยป More Photos
With 47 cars entered for Sunday’s Goody’s Cool Orange 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race, four drivers will leave Martinsville Speedway Friday afternoon having failed to qualify for the sixth race of the 36-race season. Kyle Petty isn’t worried about being one of the DNQs.
Petty, who is outside the top 35 in Sprint Cup owner points, is one of 12 drivers who will attempt to qualify for the final eight spots in the field. The good news for Petty is that Martinsville is the closest thing he has to a home track, a facility that his family has raced at since his grandfather Lee Petty ran in the first NASCAR race at Martinsville in 1949.
“I have a lot of experience at Martinsville and that should help us qualify our way in to Sunday’s race,” said Petty, who grew up about 75 miles south of the Virginia track. “This is not an enviable position to be in, but I have a good team around me and we can dig our way out of this. We just need a little bit of good fortune, more than anything. We’ve had fast cars all year, but mechanical gremlins have gotten the better of us lately. But I can tell you that no one on this team is giving anything less than 100 percent.”
Petty currently sits 40th in points, but he doesn’t appear overly concerned about where he is in relation to the field. “I’ve been in this situation before and we’ve come out just fine,” he said. “We’re more than capable of hitting a streak where we get a string of top-10 or top-15 finishes. Martinsville would be a good place to start one. We’ve come home in the top-10 there as recently as 2006. So while everyone else may think we’re in panic mode, that’s just not the case. This is a top-35 team and we’ll show everyone that.”
The optimism Petty feels is not unfounded. His team, Petty Enterprises, won its last race here with then-driver John Andretti in 1999, and Bobby Labonte, who now drives the famous No. 43 Petty Enterprises entry, is a solid 18th in points, a more than respectable showing so far.
“I’m excited to get to Martinsville this weekend because I’ve liked that place since the first time I got on the track,” said Labonte. “That’s just the way some racetracks are. It’s not one thing about them that you can really put your finger on. You just have a good feel for them right out of the box. One of the real highlights of my career would have to be winning a race in all three series at Martinsville. That has to rank right up there with my championship and my Brickyard trophy.”
Then there’s also the fact that Richard Petty, Kyle’s dad, has 15 Martinsville victories, more than anyone else in NASCAR history. “You know, the Petty family has always considered Martinsville our home track,” said Kyle Petty. “It’s a short drive from Level Cross, N.C. and Petty Enterprises cars have won there a bunch. For years it was a forgone conclusion that ‘The King’ was going to win when you went to Martinsville. Even though we have moved to Mooresville, N.C., that track is still special to our family.”
Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association.
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