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Bobby Labonte and the No. 43 Speed Racer/Cheerios Dodge team finished a very respectable 13th in Saturday night’s event. As has been the norm this year, Labonte’s crew used hard work to give the 2000 Sprint Cup champion a car that he could use to race hard. Shortly after the green flag fell, Labonte radioed that the car would not turn in the middle of the corner and he lost a lap early on. Crew chief Jeff Meendering began to adjust the car on the following pit stops and by lap 180, Labonte was one of the five fastest cars on the track.
Good pit stops and a fast car usually mesh well with a talented driver. This was the case as Labonte got his lap back on a lap 260 caution. Around lap 313, Labonte was the fastest car on the track and he was carving his way through the field with the skill of a surgeon. Had it not been for the late race cautions, Labonte could have driven into the top-10 because his car was much better than many of the cars on the track on long runs. However, the 13th place finish will give the No. 43 team a shot in the arm as the series enters the second quarter of the season. As a result, Labonte moved up four spots and is now 18th in the point’s standings.
“We weren’t very good at the start of the race,” said Labonte. “The car just felt completely different than it did in practice and you have to attribute that to the race being at night, whereas practice was under the sun. It was an impound race so the car was basically the same. But we worked hard and came out with a top-15. That was a decent night for us.”
Go Speed Racer!
Good pit stops and a fast car usually mesh well with a talented driver. This was the case as Labonte got his lap back on a lap 260 caution. Around lap 313, Labonte was the fastest car on the track and he was carving his way through the field with the skill of a surgeon. Had it not been for the late race cautions, Labonte could have driven into the top-10 because his car was much better than many of the cars on the track on long runs. However, the 13th place finish will give the No. 43 team a shot in the arm as the series enters the second quarter of the season. As a result, Labonte moved up four spots and is now 18th in the point’s standings.
“We weren’t very good at the start of the race,” said Labonte. “The car just felt completely different than it did in practice and you have to attribute that to the race being at night, whereas practice was under the sun. It was an impound race so the car was basically the same. But we worked hard and came out with a top-15. That was a decent night for us.”
Go Speed Racer!
