FONTANA, Calif. -- Thursday's opening day of the final session of Sprint Cup Preseason Thunder, at California Speedway, marked the completion of the first week that Bobby Labonte's new car chief, Raymond Fox, had spent working for Petty Enterprises on its No. 43 Dodge.

Twenty years and an even greater family legacy with Robert Yates Racing didn't keep Fox, the grandson of NASCAR legend Ray Fox, from realizing the future at Yates Racing wasn't for him.

"It was something that was hard for me to do -- but it was something I needed to do," Fox said Tuesday in a gloomy, cold garage area at Las Vegas Motor Speedway following his first two days of testing with Labonte and his new crew chief, former Hendrick Motorsports car chief Jeff Meendering.

"I still love [the Yates group] like family, I'd do anything for 'em and I know they'd do the same for me. Sometimes things change and it was a hard decision, that's all I can say. I don't know what I would have done different."

Raymond Fox, who began working at Robert Yates Racing basically right out of high school in the late 1980s, joined his father, Ray Fox Jr., an integral part of Yates' organization who died of natural causes shortly after being joined by his son at RYR.

In nearly two decades Raymond Fox had served in roles ranging from general mechanic to crew chief to car chief -- basically whatever was needed -- but a week ago he left to take the same car chief's position with the Pettys' two-car team, which is based in the shop that Yates previously occupied.

At the end of last season, Robert Yates retired and turned his team over to his son, Doug Yates, who renamed the team, formed an alliance with Roush Fenway Racing and brought in a co-owner, former Roush Fenway manager Max Jones.

Fox said he hadn't imagined working with Labonte any more than he had fantasized about what it would be like to work with Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson. He was simply ready to get down to work -- and getting Petty Enterprises back to Victory Lane.

"You want to win with whoever you're with [and] if you get to wishing you're with Jeff Gordon, or somebody that you know is going to win, that's pretty easy, you know what I mean?" Fox said. "I'd just like to work hard and accomplish it, somewhere, somehow. If [winning] is going to be a little bit of a challenge, then when you do finally get there, it's well worth it."

The familiarity of his surroundings aside, Fox is enjoying his brief time with the Pettys, most of which has been on the road.

"The atmosphere here is wonderful and all the guys are great," Fox said. "Bobby's a great guy and it sort of got back to what you would call working with a veteran -- he knows what he wants and he can talk to the crew chief a little bit more and help the crew chief figure it out a little quicker."

Meendering might be in his first month as Labonte's crew chief, but he had a long tenure at Hendrick Motorsports, so Fox feels they're ready for Speedweeks. (read more)

"Jeff's new as a crew chief, but he came from the best place you could come from," Fox said. "He knows a lot of stuff and I think we work good together in what he's come to ask me about. I think the relationship's building and I think it's going to be good."

Yates pressing on

Yates Racing's two current cars appeared at Preseason Thunder sessions at Daytona and Las Vegas with a paint scheme no owner wants to display: custom-made decals saying "SponsorYates.com." (read more)

David Gilliland, the defending Daytona 500 pole winner who said at California he hadn't given up hopes of defending that honor, despite the speed shown by a number of Toyota Camrys at Daytona testing, said the team's plan was to race, whether or not sponsorship is signed.

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"I've asked that question -- I ask it every week, but they've told us we're gonna race and we've just got to get out and perform," said Gilliland, who'll team with Yates newcomer Travis Kvapil. "We've got these first five races to get out and do the best we can, and I feel really good about our chances. Like I said, our testing has gone well.

"We do have some great [sponsorship] leads and we're very close on some stuff, but as far as they've told me, we're racing both cars all year. We've been close [on sponsorship] for a while and hopefully we can get something shored up here shortly."

Don't split on me

While at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. raised a seldom heard question about cars' front splitters as a possible reason for concern, although none of the seven drivers who crashed on the racetrack cited losing front-end grip as a reason. (read more)

Earnhardt was asked his biggest concern about the current chassis on intermediate tracks like Vegas or California.

"Just trying to get a car where it wants to be as far as the splitter [because] the splitter gets on the ground [and the car] goes up the racetrack," Earnhardt said. "You got to get that splitter off the ground but as close as possible to get the maximum downforce that you can get from the car, so it's a real fine line right there trying to adjust those two things [and] having them both. It's hard to have one without losing the other.

"The other [standard] car, it traveled what it traveled, and that's what you shot for. If you got close to that you were happy [and] the car was fast [and] that's all that mattered.

"Now you got that splitter [and] it don't go nowhere -- you can't grind it off [like a valance panel]. You need to get the car traveled down as much as you want, but the splitter touches the ground and it's terrible -- blows the whole corner -- so it's kind of a challenge."

Former Craftsman Truck Series champion Travis Kvapil described the sensation in even more detail, but at least he said it wasn't unexpected on his No. 28 Yates Racing Ford.

"That's part of the package," Kvapil said with a shrug. "There are guys that are coil-binding [springs], there are guys that are using bump-stops, it's just finding that package to limit your [front-end] travel.

"If you make a change, you're going to over-travel the car and you're going to land on that splitter, and basically the front tires aren't on the racetrack and you're sliding the nose. I did it here -- you drive off in the corner and it just don't turn, you're on the brakes, you got the wheel to it and you're just going up the track.

"It's just something you've got to be aware of, and for me, I like to know what they're changing so I can know what to expect and try to feel it out. We try to do all that homework at the shop, on the K-rig and the seven-post and those type machines."

Stop pushing

After half a day's testing at California (speeds), two-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson's nightmare continued, as his No. 48A Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was 38th on the time sheet. That was more than twice as bad as Johnson was in two days of testing at Las Vegas (speeds) earlier this week, when he was 15th, 15th, 18th and ninth in four sessions.

"Aero balance is the thing we're struggling with the most," Johnson said at lunchtime. "From my driving style and the way we used to put bodies on the cars, we had a lot of front downforce. With these cars, with the wing on the back we don't have that. I've been having a terrible problem with a push -- at Las Vegas and here, this morning."

Johnson said he would have a serious conversation after his media briefing with his teammates, including Jeff Gordon, who was eighth at California's first session and in the top 10 half the time at Vegas.

Andretti tests for Front Row

Some late moves at BAM Racing, for whom John Andretti did well to get into six of the 10 Chase races last season, and 10 of the last 14 overall, put the Indiana veteran on the sidelines.

But Andretti, who did the Rolex 24 at Daytona sports-car race with Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony George's Vision Racing, was at Las Vegas and California with two former Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolets -- one new and one previously raced -- carrying Front Row Motorsports' No. 34.

Andretti said the team was using engines from Joe Gibbs Racing's former Chevrolet inventory before JGR switched to Toyota. Andretti said at least some early season rides were in the offing.

"I didn't have many laps on the new Las Vegas, so I figured it was an opportunity to work on the new car, and stay up to date, and hopefully we can do some good," Andretti said. "Hopefully we can get it going and make the races. Who knows? You never know what's going to happen in Cup, but Bob [Jenkins, team owner] went and bought a lot of Gibbs engines and some cars from DEI.

"I like working with Bob, I did some stuff with he and John Carter last year so we're going to try to come out and do some good."

Vickers likes Pats, sort of

Red Bull Racing driver Brian Vickers is like a lot of other people around the country. He may not watch a lot of regular season NFL action, but this weekend's Super Bowl, that's a different story. But then, Vickers has actually been to one.

"I don't follow it that much, but I will definitely be watching the Super Bowl," Vickers said. "Based on what I've seen you have to go with the team that is undefeated [New England Patriots].

"I've gone to a Super Bowl -- I'm glad I've gone once. I was there the year that Janet Jackson had her [wardrobe] incident. It's a really big event. The parties and everything leading up to it are great, but once you got to the game, it's like any other game. I would rather go to five [regular season] home games at Panther Stadium or Giants Stadium in New York and watch the Super Bowl on TV."

Red Bull general manager Jay Frye, on the other hand, was more definite.

"I think the Giants are going to win -- straight up," Frye said. "I'd take them and the points right now."