FORT WORTH, Texas -- Despite the fact that one of the two Petty Enterprises cars failed to qualify Friday for the second consecutive Sprint Cup Series race, adding to a week of misery for the storied organization, team owner Richard Petty said he remains optimistic about the future.

Subbing for regular driver Kyle Petty, Chad McCumbee failed to go fast enough in the No. 45 Dodge to get into this Sunday's Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. One week earlier, needing to qualify on speed because the car is outside the top 35 in owner points, Kyle Petty also failed to go fast enough to get the No. 45 in the race at Martinsville.

In between those failed qualifying attempts, news came down on Wednesday that General Mills, the longtime sponsor of the No. 43 Petty Enterprises car driven by Bobby Labonte, would be shifting its sponsorship dollars to Richard Childress Racing after this season. Furthermore, the RCR operation is going to fund a fourth team and it has been long rumored that Labonte could be the driver for the new No. 33 car.

Despite the fact that Labonte is in the final year of his contract at Petty Enterprises and Labonte also currently drives for RCR on a part-time basis in the Nationwide Series, Richard Petty insisted that Labonte will return as driver of the No. 43 next season.

"I never questioned it. But that's me and Bobby talking, not everybody else," Petty said. "From what my conversations have been with Bobby, I never questioned it. I read all this stuff, I hear all this stuff and it goes in one ear and out the other."

Petty said he is applying the same philosophy to the organization's continuing search to replace General Mills as a sponsor.

"I'm not worried in any way," Petty said. "I never have worried about anything, so I'm not going to worry about this. You know, the way I've always looked at it is that one lost opportunity just gives you a chance at other opportunities. I'm a very positive person."

Team consultant Dale Inman and general manager Robbie Loomis confirmed that the company had been talking with other potential sponsors even before the announcement that General Mills was moving on.

"You have to cover all your bases, right? We've been talking to a lot of people for a while now," Inman said.

As winner of a record 200 races and seven championships, Petty admitted that it eats at him that no Petty car has reached Victory Lane since John Andretti did it at Martinsville in 1999.

"Yeah, it hurts, OK? But the big deal is that I don't have as much control now as I had 10 years ago, 20 years ago, because the business is so big," Petty said. "So there's no one person that controls the business now like they used to. ... If I could control it, we would be winning races -- or I feel like we would be. But some of my decisions are not a whole lot better than the ones we've been making anyway."

That included what Richard and Loomis said was the joint decision to try McCumbee qualifying the car Friday at Texas. Asked if his son Kyle was the problem in that ride, Petty added: "No, it's a combination deal. The driver can only do so much. The crew can only do so much. Circumstances beyond our control do the rest of it. Right now we don't have any of the three ingredients working to a plus. So that's what we're trying to get going here."