After stint in TV booth, Kyle Petty has goals for his No. 45 Dodge

Back in a race car after a brief stint as a TV analyst, Kyle Petty is excited about driving again.

“You know, there are 16 races left in the season and we still have a lot of goals that we want to meet,” said Petty, who returned to his No. 45 Petty Enterprises Dodge last week at Indianapolis, finishing 32nd, and will race Sunday in the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Pocono. “We definitely want to get this team inside the top 30 in the owner points.

“And, if I'm not mistaken, I am only 243 points out of the top 30 in driver points, despite missing five races. ... That's not a lot of points to make up over 16 races. Given the kind of cars that our shop has been putting out lately it should be achievable because the cars have been great.”

Petty, who also directs the two-car team that includes the No. 43 of Bobby Labonte, was glad to get back behind the wheel after Chad McCumbee and John Andretti took turns filling in for him.

“It's different when you miss a race due to injury or something like that,” Petty said. “But, when you are perfectly healthy and you are not in your car, you start to get a little antsy.

“Everyone knows that last week was my 800th start. That is a long time to be doing something. When you do something for that length of time it is hard to just turn it on and off like a light switch. At the same time, it helped Petty Enterprises as a whole.

“We were able to try out some young talent in Chad McCumbee,” he added. “We were able to put a veteran driver like John Andretti in the car to get his feedback on where we are. And it allowed me to do some television work, which I love to do. It was a win-win situation all the way around.”

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ANOTHER WOMAN: Leilani M�nter is scheduled to make her Indy Pro Series debut Aug. 11 at Kentucky Speedway in a car prepared by Sam Schmidt Motorsports.

M�nter, who passed her rookie test at Kentucky in May, will also compete in the season finale at Chicagoland Speedway on Sept. 9.

“Racing in the Indy Pro Series is a big step in my career,” said M�nter, who began racing stock cars in 2001. “I am deeply appreciative to Sam Schmidt for giving me the chance to drive for a championship team and to SMART Papers for becoming my primary sponsor in the series.”

She joins series points leader Alex Lloyd, Logan Gomez and Ryan Justice in Schmidt's stable. The team has won two of the last three drivers championships and boasts 26 pole positions and 20 race wins in the Indy Pro Series.

M�nter grew up in Minnesota and graduated from the University of California San Diego with a degree in biology, but left that and a career in Hollywood, which included working as a stunt driver and photo double for Catherine Zeta-Jones, to move to Charlotte, N.C., to pursue her racing career. She began racing late model stock cars in 2001, worked her way into ARCA and appeared to be on her way to NASCAR until she was invited by Schmidt to test one of his open-wheel cars.

“I was very impressed with how quickly Leilani got up to speed and with the feedback she gave the team,” said IPS technical director Butch Meyer. “She will be a very tough competitor in the Indy Pro Series.”

If she is able to successfully make the switch to open-wheel cars, M�nter could eventually join Danica Patrick, Sarah Fisher and Milka Duno in the IndyCar Series.

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TITLE HOPES: Scott Pruett knows consistency alone won't keep him atop the Daytona Prototypes Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series point standings heading into Friday's Montreal 400 (kilometer) race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

He will try to protect an 11-point lead over 2005 co-champion Max Angelelli on the 2.708-mile, 15-turn road course on Montreal's Ile Notre Dame, which marks the 11th of 14 rounds.

Pruett, a three-time Trans-Am champion, also shared the 2004 Grand-Am title with Max Papis in a 12-race season, winning four times. This season, Pruett is in sole possession of first after copiloting the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley to two victories, including January's season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, with Salvador Duran and Juan Pablo Montoya, and the July 13 race at Iowa Speedway with current co-driver Memo Rojas.

Angelelli, meanwhile, has taken the No. 10 Pontiac Riley to seven podiums, including a third at the most recent race, the Porsche 250 at Barber Motorsports Park. Angelelli is entered at Montreal in the No. 10 with Jan Magnussen, who co-drove to the team's only victory of 2007 at Virginia International Raceway.

The Montreal race is a support event to the first NASCAR Busch Series race in Canada.