Inside the Halls of Petty: Drying off from Michigan

I think I'm still trying to get dry. Michigan was a wet one for all of us. I've seen it rain at the track in the past, but nothing like this past weekend. We weren't sure if it was ever going to stop, but NASCAR did a great job of getting this race in.

They had a tough job. We are racing Saturday night in Bristol, Tenn. We had to get back home and prepare for that race. The Craftsman Truck Series races on Wednesday night and we need to have our haulers there on Thursday. It's become a pretty short week for a lot of guys in our sport. The schedule doesn't allow much room for rain, but you can always figure something out. I think NASCAR really worked hard and did a good job of getting the race in this week.

Inside Petty

Each week on NASCAR.COM, Robbie Loomis will take fans "Inside the Halls of Petty Enterprises." A championship-winning crew chief, Loomis has 26 victories atop the pit box and as Vice President of Operations oversees both Petty cars.

I think our guys on both the No. 45 Dodge team and the No. 43 Dodge team did a good job of staying focused in the weather delay. There aren't many things worse than waiting out a weather delay at the race track. All your focus is on racing, all your energy is focused on making that pit stop, all your focus is making the car better and when you have to sit and wait hours and days for that to happen it becomes draining. Our guys stayed focused and were ready to go when it was time to finally race.

We had a lot of change going into Michigan. Kyle's situation with his hand made us turn to Chad McCumbee to get behind the wheel for the weekend. We made a crew chief change on the Cheerios Dodge and Doug Randolph came in. Doug made an immediate impact for us. Bobby qualified fourth on Friday and we were pretty happy to see that. I think Doug can help us get Bobby and the Cheerios team to the next step. Michigan was a pretty good start for us.

We are happy with Chad's performance too. He was thrown to lions a little bit by us. We called him up once we decided it was going to be better for Kyle to take a weekend off. He quickly got onto a plane and was at the shop. We got his seat in the car and we went to Michigan. Billy (Wilburn, crew chief) and the guys worked hard on the car. Chad did a good job of learning and getting more seat time. He did what we asked and we couldn't ask much more from him.

We do see a future for Chad at Petty Enterprises. He's in our plans and we're looking to run a Busch Series program for him in 2008. We're currently looking into sponsorship on that front. Chad has proven a lot to us and we see a lot of potential in him. Getting him into a full-time ride for next season is a priority on our list.

The plan is for Kyle to drive this weekend. He's going to let his hand continue to heal, but he wants to get back behind the wheel. I've been around Kyle for a long time, and for those that really know him, know that he loves racing at Bristol. It's going to take a lot for him not to race this weekend. He's had good runs there and he does a great job racing there. Kyle will make the final call, but we are all hopeful that he races this weekend.

We have a lot to think about in a short amount of time this week. We're going to have to switch gears and get our minds focused on Bristol. Our dryers will be working overtime in Level Cross to get us ready, but we're going to be fresh when we get to Bristol. It's an exciting race and by the time Saturday night rolls around Michigan will be an afterthought. That will be good because we had Michigan on our minds a lot this week.

See you in Victory Lane,
Robbie Loomis

• UPDATE: Injury keeps Petty out; Wallace to drive 45 at Bristol