RICHMOND, Va. (September 5, 2012) – – Understanding barriers to goal achievements is crucial to learning to win in any sport. For JTG Daugherty Racing, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team recognizes their impediments and understands what it takes to finish on top entering Richmond International Raceway (RIR) in the Federated Auto Parts 400.
“We’re doing everything we can to improve each week,” Labonte said.
Every team member is committed to improving and using all assets for the betterment of the racing operation in its fourth year of full-time competition. On track improvements are starting to become visible to the JTG Daugherty Racing team with the No. 47 BUSH’S Beans Toyota Camry and 21-time winner Bobby Labonte. In the two most recent events, Labonte finished fourteenth at Bristol Motor Speedway and 19th at Atlanta Motor Speedway with Brian Burns in the crew chief seat.
“We feel like we are finally back on track again after Bristol and Atlanta,” Burns said. “We’re really looking forward to Richmond because we ran well there earlier this season and are more confident about this weekend than we felt about the last two weekends.”
Labonte and Burns are on the same page.
“We’ve had some respectable finishes recently and are confident heading into Richmond,” Labonte said. “When you finish in the top-20 and the top-15, you hope top-10s follow, then top-fives and ultimately a win. We literally started from scratch at the beginning of the season and we are working hard to continue to make progress. We think this will be a good weekend for us.”
Labonte wants to keep the ball rolling at Richmond where he scored his first career pole (9/11/93) and has led 161 laps. His best finish is second that occurred in September 1999 and May 2003. He has four top-five and 10 top-10s at the .75-mile tri-oval where he finished 17th in April.
“Richmond is a track that everyone enjoys,” said Labonte. “It has more than one groove and it’s really a fun track to race on under the lights. There’s also a lot on the line for the driver’s trying to make the Chase. It should be an action-packed race with a lot of storylines to watch. A top-10 finish would be a nice storyline for us.”
Labonte is up for the challenge while the single-car team owned by Brad Daugherty, Jodi Geschickter and Tad Geschickter sits 24th in the drivers points standings and 26th in the owners.
“Brad, Tad and Jodi have set goals and I look forward to contributing to help make the team better each week,” Labonte said. “I’ve always liked a good challenge and we’re making the best of the situation and want to finish off the year strong. We look forward to a new challenge the following year. We’re getting better and improving competition.”
Live coverage from Richmond International Raceway at 7 p.m. ET airs on ABC and MRN Radio. Sirius XM will also carry the race.
