It’s Labor Day Weekend and We Are Where?
“It never used to be like this”

This weekend, Kyle Petty and the #45 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge team head to the two-mile California Speedway, located in the city of Fontana, for Sunday’s Sony HD 500. Sunday’s race will begin in the daylight and end “under the lights”.

Petty will be making his 774th start this weekend. Petty has 12 starts at the California Speedway. Petty’s best finish at the track is 17th and his best start is 14th. Petty finished 25th in February at the track.

Comments from Petty as he prepares for this weekend’s Sony HD 500:

Is it still different to be in California on Labor Day weekend?
“Oh yea, I think it is. I grew up going to Darlington on this weekend every year. It was like Christmas, Thanksgiving or Easter. Some things are just givens. Darlington on Labor Day was just one of them. But, hey, things change. We had to grow with the sport and head west. We’ve been coming to California Speedway for a while. Now, we just come back on Labor Day. It’s not the Southern 500, but it’s still a race. It never used to be like this. It’s just different.”

Was this a good change or bad change?
“It was just a change that had to be done to help grow the sport. If you look at it like that, yea, it was something that was good for the sport. We have a lot of races in the Southeast, Northeast and Midwest. We had to make a balance with some more races in the west. I think we have done a good job by adding another race here.

“I think it’s still important we keep working on New York City and in the Northwest. We still need to hit those areas. The Busch Series is in Mexico and there has been a lot of talk about Canada. NASCAR, as a whole, is doing a good job of balancing the schedules. You’re never going to make everyone happy, but they do a good job.”

Will this ever compare to the Southern 500?
“You just can’t. This is just a different race at a different track. Darlington was where they ran the Southern 500 and it’s not going to be California. This is just a different race with a new tradition. We run a twilight race here and that’s the way it is.

“We have the ‘chase’ now. That’s different too. The sport always has to change to grow and get better. It’s just a part of sports. The NBA or NHL has added teams in the past. We just add tracks, and when you do that, we have to give up something. Some people are going to agree and others are not, but it’s just part of the deal. We just take our cars to the tracks and try to win. That’s our goal again this weekend with this Schwan’s Dodge in California.”