Bobby Labonte had become the forgotten man at the end of his 11-year tenure at Joe Gibbs Racing. How does one become forgotten after winning 21 races and a championship? By having Tony Stewart as one's teammate.

Likewise, Petty Enterprises had become the forgotten team in the Cup garage. How does one become forgotten after 268 wins and 10 championships? Well, that's a much more complicated story, but we'll sum it up this way: Their last win came just a few weeks before "Star Wars: Episode I" hit theaters. In other words, it's been a while.

TOP 20 DRIVER COUNTDOWN 19. Juan Pablo Montoya 18. Scott Riggs 17. Bobby Labonte 16. Casey Mears 14. Dale Jarrett 13. Greg Biffle 11. Kyle Busch 10. Jeff Burton 9. Kurt Busch/Ryan Newman 6. Carl Edwards 5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 4. Jeff Gordon Sign up now and create your free fantasy team and league. Ordinal out of range Watch the Daytona 500 on FOX, February 18 at 2 p.m. ET. More NASCAR

But when team driver-owner Kyle Petty convinced old buddy Labonte to take over The King's former ride, Richard Petty's famous No. 43 started showing signs of perhaps becoming famous once again. Labonte grabbed the team's first top-five finish since 2001 and went on to add two more, eventually earning PE's best points finish since 1999.

It was an improvement that ran both ways, as Labonte managed to post nearly identical numbers to his 2005 effort with higher-powered Joe Gibbs Racing and moved up three spots in the standings.

Why He Will Finish 18th

As much as the No. 43 car improved its performance last season, there is still a ways to go yet. Vice president of operations Robbie Loomis, best known as the crew chief for both Richard Petty's last race and for Jeff Gordon's last championship, did an excellent job of stabilizing what had become a high-speed carousel of crew chiefs and front office management.

"I was here, then left for the gold standard of the sport, Hendrick Motorsports, then came back," Loomis explains. "At first glance, the two teams may look like they are a million miles apart, but they're not. We just have to continue the process of instilling a winning attitude and focusing on the things that really matter first."

New attitude, new personnel (veteran crew chief Paul Andrews moved to the No. 43 late last season), and a new car. They won't admit as much, but the team already has its eye on 2008, when the Car of Tomorrow will be on track for the vast majority of the schedule, if not all of it (trust me on this). The introduction of the new car could become what is essentially a do-over for the entire garage, allowing the mid-pack teams to at least temporarily gain ground on the superpowers.

When all those roads finally merge, Labonte will once again become a frequent contender to win races. They're getting closer, and considering how lost this team was just two years ago, that's a major move in the right direction.

The All-Telling, All-Knowing Stat: 8 DNFs

Labonte failed to finish eight of the 36 races run in 2006, some because of bad parts, but most because of bad luck. Eliminate half of those and he likely would have finished the year sniffing the top 15 in points.

"I feel like the next step (from 21st to 15th) will be harder in a lot of ways," admits the 2000 Cup champ. "But hopefully through the seasoning of last year with the understanding of the racecar, it won't come as hard as I think. I know there are areas I made some mistakes in and we had some DNFs that we had no control over. If we can fix those DNFs and my mistakes, that could put us there without running any slower or faster. The law of averages just bit us on some races last year."

Fantasy Lock: Atlanta

Labonte is the active leader in Atlanta wins with six and tied for tops among full-time drivers with 12 top fives. He most recently won there in March 2003, but had a car strong enough to grab victory No. 7 last March, leading 13 of the race's first 56 laps before blowing an engine and finishing 43rd.