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Bobby Labonte and the No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge team finished 11th in the Pocono 500. It is the third 11th-place finish for the team during the 2008 Sprint Cup season. Labonte, a three-time Pocono winner, began the race from the 38th position. He radioed to crew chief Jeff Meendering that he was fighting a ‘loose’ car getting into each of Pocono’s three corners and a ‘tight’ car from the center of the corner to the exit. Meendering, along with great pit stops from the No. 43 pit crew, began to adjust the car to Labonte’s liking, while also picking up precious spots on pit road. By lap 46 Labonte was running in the 23rd position. On lap 57 he was fighting to jump inside the top-20.
It was during the middle portions of the race that Meendering began to develop a pit strategy that almost paid off heavily. Meendering alternated brilliantly between four-tire, two-tire and fuel-only pit stops. Not only did this vault Labonte to his highest running order of 3rd by lap 82, but it also put the No. 43 on a pit cycle with three other cars. This pit cycle saw Labonte make a green-flag pit stop on lap 164, a stop that would have allowed him to make it to the end of the race while the majority of the other competitors would have had to come in for one more round of fuel. However, a lap 177 caution negated this strategy, but Labonte was able to tie his best finish of the season.
“All of the guys on pit road did an awesome job. This is one of the best team efforts of the season,” sounded Labonte. “Jeff made great calls. The pit crew had great stops, one after another. It was hard to pass out there today. You could pull up to a guy’s bumper, but passing them was another story. So the positions that we were able to pick up on pit road were important to how we finished.”
It was during the middle portions of the race that Meendering began to develop a pit strategy that almost paid off heavily. Meendering alternated brilliantly between four-tire, two-tire and fuel-only pit stops. Not only did this vault Labonte to his highest running order of 3rd by lap 82, but it also put the No. 43 on a pit cycle with three other cars. This pit cycle saw Labonte make a green-flag pit stop on lap 164, a stop that would have allowed him to make it to the end of the race while the majority of the other competitors would have had to come in for one more round of fuel. However, a lap 177 caution negated this strategy, but Labonte was able to tie his best finish of the season.
“All of the guys on pit road did an awesome job. This is one of the best team efforts of the season,” sounded Labonte. “Jeff made great calls. The pit crew had great stops, one after another. It was hard to pass out there today. You could pull up to a guy’s bumper, but passing them was another story. So the positions that we were able to pick up on pit road were important to how we finished.”
