Inside the Halls of Petty: Racing for books and kids

They say that the "stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas." Well, this week the "stars" will be racing at close to 200 mph around Texas Motor Speedway. Texas always rolls out the red carpet for the NASCAR and everyone looks forward to racing in the Lone Star State.

They love their racing down in Texas. The fans especially look forward to welcoming back one of their native sons. It's always fun to take Corpus Christi-born and bred Bobby Labonte back home, in hopes he can pick up his first Nextel Cup win in his home state.

Bobby is always a threat to win at any intermediate track. The No. 43 Dodge team has had some great cars recently. They just need a little luck. If the racing gods can give them a break, they may just go to Victory Lane this weekend.

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.

No matter who crosses the finish line first on Sunday, the real winners this weekend will be the children of the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Bobby, along with First Book, Cheerios and Kroger, will host a Speed Read event on Thursday afternoon. Participants in the event will speed read as many words as possible from a children's book in just 15 seconds. For every word read, First Book and Cheerios will donate one new book to local programs serving children in need.

And that's not all.

This Speed Read event will also help build anticipation for Sunday's race. Cheerios, through its Spoonfuls of Stories program, and First Book are donating 43 books for each lap that Bobby and the "Helping Hands" crew complete during the 2007 season. If Bobby completes all 334 laps on Sunday, Cheerios and First Book will donate more than 14,000 books to children in the region.

Sometimes we take it for granted that books are readily available to every child in this country. That's simply not the case. We are proud to be associated with this great program because it's bettering the lives of kids in America. We're even running a special paint scheme for this event. Look for the No. 43 Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories Dodge to earn a lot of books for a lot of kids on Sunday.

You know, Texas is very similar to the Atlanta Motor Speedway. The asphalt at Texas has been down for a while now and we are starting to get that high speed, side-by-side racing. That is great news for Kyle Petty and the No. 45 Dodge this weekend. They have been stout on the mile-and-a-halfs this year. Kyle finished third at Charlotte in the Coca-Cola 600 and he was knocking on the door of another top-five at Atlanta, but a late-race caution gave the cars in front of him the chance they needed to come in for fuel.

Kyle brought the car home in the 13th spot this past weekend and, in the process, gained a lot of ground in the owner points battle. He is less than 100 points out of the 31st spot. With the tracks that are left in the season, I think he'll get there. He has two more 1.5-mile racetracks coming up and Phoenix, where he has a lot of laps. Kyle has really been impressive behind the wheel this season. I know he is focused on the top-35 race because it is important. I have all the confidence in the world that Kyle and the team can move up more in the points before the season ends.

For more information of the Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories program, go to their Web site, www.spoonfulsofstories.com. Click on the Race for Books icon to find out more about the program and the year-long drive to get books in the hands of children.

See you in Victory Lane,
Robbie Loomis