Labonte salvages his 600 after flirting with disaster

CONCORD, N.C. -- Bobby Labonte came back from the brink of the racing abyss to match his best finish of the season in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

In the end, the driver of the famed No. 43 Dodge for Petty Enterprises was pleased with his 11th-place finish but frustrated nonetheless that it didn't end up being even better.

Coca-Cola 600

Official Results

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Kasey Kahne	Dodge
2.	Greg Biffle	Ford
3.	Kyle Busch	Toyota
4.	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet
5.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet
6.	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet
7.	Matt Kenseth	Ford
8.	Elliott Sadler	Dodge
9.	Carl Edwards	Ford
10.	David Reutimann	Toyota
11.	Bobby Labonte	Dodge

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"Early on we were a lap down on Lap 62. We were at the tail end being a lap down, almost two laps down, and we got a lucky break with the caution coming out. That kept us only one lap down," Labonte said.

That caution came out when Robby Gordon's engine blew ending Gordon's night but helped give new life to Labonte when he was on the verge of going those two laps down to the leaders. He credited crew chief Jeff Meendering for making the right calls in the pits to then help him get into position to get the free pass for being the first car not on the lead lap.

When that caution came out on Lap 193, Labonte found himself back on the lead lap. Meendering then made some additional aggressive calls in the pits, taking on two tires and fuel when most others on the lead lap took fuel and four tires. That strategy allowed Labonte to jump into the top 10.

From there, he took advantage -- driving the car to as high as third place on Lap 300 before eventually falling back.

"We stayed OK after that, but track position meant so much all night," Labonte said.

Robbie Loomis, general manager for Petty Enterprises, said he was pleased with the way his driver and crew chief worked together to relentlessly fight back after a tough start.

"Bobby and Jeff did a good job. We battled back. We got [almost] two laps down at one point and we came back from that," Loomis said. "We've just got to get to the point where we start these races better. But I like the way Bobby and Jeff are communicating, and it paid off there at the end."

The 11th-place finish matched Labonte's best finish of 2008 in the season-opening Daytona 500 back in February. Labonte lost his shot at a top-10 finish when he and Meendering figured they had to make a late stop for gas and four fresh tires.

"We had to put tires on at some point in time and that cost us some spots and dropped us to 11th," Labonte said. "It was tough because we wanted to stay out [on the same tires] and keep our track position, but they give you a false sense of hope. You're never really sure about the tires in a situation like that. We decided to pit and put new tires on and try to get us a top-10 finish that way."

It didn't quite work out as well as they had hoped, but Loomis said the entire No. 43 team has reasons to be encouraged moving forward.

"I think they learned some stuff over here at the [recent Lowe's Motor Speedway] test that helped us to get that thing right," Loomis said. "Track position is just so important. So you have one car when you have a clean track, and you have a different car when you don't have it. You've just got to balance whether you're in clean air or not, but I think this is definitely something we can build on."

Loomis insisted that he has seen the No. 43 team coming on stronger in recent weeks, even when its finishes perhaps haven't reflected that.

"The Richmond race comes to mind, but each race we think we're taking away something that can help us," Loomis said. "There have been a couple races where we've run lap times that were in the top five. But the majority of the race we're a 12th- through 18th-place car. We've just got to get on the front side of it; right now we're on the backside of those top 10 guys."

Overall, Sunday's eventual 11th-place finish was pretty satisfying for all involved.

"We'll take it," said Labonte, who moved up one spot to 18th in the points standings.