Race 2 Win: Subway 500 - Bobby Labonte Notes

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Subway 500 - Bobby Labonte Notes

BOBBY LABONTE SUBWAY 500 NOTES AND QUOTES

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C., Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2005 – The following are Subway 500 pre-race notes and quotes for Bobby Labonte, driver of the No. 18 Care Net/Interstate Batteries Chevrolet (NEXTEL Cup) for Joe Gibbs Racing.

SUBWAY 500 PRE-RACE NOTES:

Labonte will attempt to start his 28th NEXTEL CUP race at Martinsville Speedway. He won the spring race in 2002 and won the pole for the spring race in 1995.

Labonte has four top-five and 11 top-10 finishes at Martinsville. He has finished fourth or better in four of the last eight races at Martinsville.

In the spring race at Martinsville, Labonte started sixth, led twice for 32 laps and was in the top five for nearly all of the first 399 laps of the 500-lap event. However, on Lap 399, while Labonte was in third-place, smoke appeared from the back of the car. He stayed on the track and fell back to eighth before pitting on Lap 435. His day ended in the pits when it was determined that a valve problem could not be fixed.

In 2004, Labonte started 23rd and finished second in the spring race, his tying his best finish of the season. He also finished second at Darlington in the spring. In the fall race, Labonte started 17th and finished 18th.

Labonte is 25th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. He has 2,957 points and trails 24th-place Casey Mears by 61 points.

Labonte has scored NEXTEL Cup, Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series victories at Martinsville and is the only driver to win in all three NASCAR divisions at the same track. On Oct. 18, 1992, Labonte won the Winston Classic Busch Series event, followed by the Virginia 500 NEXTEL Cup event on April 14, 2002 and then the Kroger 250 Craftsman Truck Series event on April 9, 2005.

The primary car for the Subway 500 is chassis No. 64, the car Labonte used earlier this season at Martinsville and tested at the track on Oct. 12. Prior to spring race, Labonte had not driven chassis No. 64 since the 2003 season. He finished second with the car in the spring races at Martinsville and Richmond in 2003 and finished sixth with it in the fall 2003 Richmond race. He also finished 14th in the June New Hampshire event in 2003.

The back-up car will be No. 85, which was used in 2004 at Phoenix where Labonte started 27th and finished ninth. The only other time the car was used was in 2003 at Indianapolis when Labonte started eighth and finished 22nd.

SUBWAY 500 PRE-RACE QUOTE:
BOBBY LABONTE (No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet, 2000 NASCAR Champion, 1991 Busch Series Champion): “I’ve always enjoyed racing at Martinsville. It's just a great place to see a race. The cars aren't so dependent on aero there and you have to use a good balance of aggressiveness and finesse to get the job done. You have to be smart with your brake pedal and not abuse the brakes in the early going, especially if you don't have a great starting spot. We ran well there in the spring, but had an engine problem late. That was pretty frustrating, because we were strong all day. We had a decent test up there last week and we’ll see what we can do.”

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