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Greetings Race Fans!

I hope that many of you recently saw the 2008 Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil Dodge make it's debut at Bristol Motor Speedway. As always, Bristol delivered a large number of wrecks this year and thankfully Kyle was able to avoid any serious damage. As a result, Kyle delivered his best finish so far this season at 28th. The #45 Marathon Dodge will make another appearance this weekend at Martinsville and then again at Texas Motor Speedway on April 6th.

No need to beat around the bush here, so let's talk about what really may be on some people's minds…the top 35 in owners' points. For the true race fans, you know that Kyle has had a tough start and is currently at 40th, 61points out of 35th. What does this mean? Well, it means that Kyle is no longer guaranteed to be any races until he climbs back in to the top 35 in owner's points. Does this concern him or the Petty's--no, they are confident they can respond. Since it is early in the season, they are able to move up significantly with a mid-20's finish (Kyle made up 30 points at Bristol). Also, Kyle's been in this position before. In 2006, Kyle dropped out of the top 35 for 4 races and qualified for all 4 of them and got right back where he needed to be. As previously discussed, the Petty's made some major changes in the off-season, and after 60 years of doing it the same way, in the same place, there's bound to be some growing pains. The Petty's have built themselves a great foundation upon which to make the improvements they need and we still expect to see the #45 Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil Dodge move up this year.

Now, here's something to make you smile...Tony Stewart's hairy back. Oh yeah, after a friendly bet last year between Mr. Harvick and Mr. Stewart, Tony put up his back hair if fans could raise $100,000 for the Victory Junction Gang Camp. Well, there appears to be a lot of fans who want to hear Tony scream like a girl, because over $125,000 was raised. The procedure was broadcast live on Tony Stewart's Show on Sirius radio and Kyle Petty was on hand to witness the painful event and collect the donations for the Victory Junction Gang Camp, which he runs with his wife, Pattie. Rumor has it that Kevin may be matching the challenge by letting Tony shave his head with a razor if fans can match the $100,000 goal again.

On a final note, USA Today featured an article last week that highlighted the top 5 Sprint Cup Series drivers with sponsor/fan appeal, as measured by Millsport, a motor sports-oriented marketing agency in Charlotte. Though it is no surprise to us, Kyle Petty was fifth on that list, right behind Dale Earnhart, Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, and Michael Waltrip. All of the drivers were rated on 8 categories including; awareness, appeal, notice, trendsetter, influence, trust, endorsement and aspiration. And we all know how famous Richard is…and we get them both!

Let's go racing!