Petty pleased with progress, expects more in 2007
In racing terms, Christmas came early for Kyle Petty.
In personal terms, the charity run held earlier in December at Victory Junction Gang Camp -- the facility founded by Kyle and wife Pattie for chronically ill children -- might have done more to touch Petty's soul, but his racing gift came more than a month ago in Homestead.
At the end of the season finale, Petty's No. 45 team found itself sitting 35th in owner points. That might not sound like much, but it meant 2007 will be getting off on the right foot. If Petty had been 36th in owner points, the spot that went to Sterling Marlin's No. 14 Ginn Racing team, he'd be sweating out the start of the season.
With as many as 50 teams planning to run the full schedule in '07, simply making races will be an obstacle for the teams outside the top 35 and not guaranteed a starting spot in the next race. Marlin will have to earn a spot in the Daytona 500 field, while Petty's team knows its berth is secure.
The 2006 owner points are used for the first five races next year, meaning Petty's team has a chance to build a solid foundation for the season. This would be on top of the work done in '06, when Petty Enterprises took a step forward.
Bobby Labonte, in his first year with the team, finished 21st in driver points, recording three top-fives and eight top-10 finishes. Petty, meanwhile, had just two top-10s to his name, but still ran better than in the last few seasons.
"I think it's been a pretty solid year compared to where we've been," Petty said. "It's been a step up from where we were. When you look at [the finishes] we had as an organization and compared that number, [you see the improvement]. We had a hard time busting top-20s in [2005].
"You don't go from 43rd to fifth in points. You don't go from 43rd to top-10s instantly, it takes time. So I think it's been good." Petty said he believed Robbie Loomis, the team's vice president of competition, and Labonte made the team's bench deeper. Plus, Paul Andrews, Labonte's crew chief the final 10 races, had something "that really clicked quick." Having Billy Wilburn come over to Petty's team completed the exchange. "We've kind of clicked a lot quicker than I anticipated," Petty said of the latter move.
There's still plenty of room for improvement, though. Petty knows the pit crews have to be more consistent and he said Loomis has identified other weaknesses on the teams that need to be addressed during the offseason.
Loomis was Richard Petty's crew chief and then led Petty Enterprises back to Victory Lane with Bobby Hamilton and John Andretti before moving to Hendrick Motorsports to replace Ray Evernham as Jeff Gordon's crew chief.
Loomis won a championship with Gordon, but the chance to return to his roots in 2005 was a pull too strong to ignore. The change of crew chiefs helped spark a resurgence in Gordon's performance in '06 and helped Petty Enterprises as well.
"I've said all year we've been like the stock market, up and down, but I think our trend has been upward," Loomis said. "I think the biggest gains have been in the people and how they're getting along and communicating. We have meetings and everyone puts in their input and knows what we're trying to work for.
"Everybody's after the same goal, and seeing Bobby and Kyle work great together, I think that's probably been the most satisfying thing."
Increased testing is part of the plan and Loomis said getting a good handle on the Car of Tomorrow also will be imperative for Petty Enterprises' teams to take the next step forward.
"It's all right there in front of us," said Loomis. "We just have to keep working hard to grasp hold of it all."
Petty agreed that both teams were running better as the year went on, the trick is being able to carry that into the upcoming season.
"That's what it's all about, taking what you've got this season and moving it forward one more step," Petty said. "Sometimes we've been able to capitalize on that the past few years, but it was more like moving from 30th to 25th or from 25th to 20th. It wasn't big steps. [Now], we have the potential to come out next year and make a big step."
Mark Ashenfelter is an associate editor at NASCAR Scene magazine, which has a Web site at www.scenedaily.com.