Bobby Labonte Daytona Preview
LABONTE EYES OPTIONS FOR DEALMAKING AT DAYTONA
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (June 29, 2011) – – Bobby Labonte raced for the win in the closing laps of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway (DIS) in February. Labonte pushed Trevor Bayne to victory and snatched a fourth-place finish after leading once for two laps in the season-opener. Now, Labonte returns with the No. 47 Kingsford Toyota Camry eager to claim his 22nd career victory.
“In February, we had an opportunity to win,” Labonte said. “We have that in the back of our minds as we return. We had a good run and a safe day. We were able to be in the right place at the right time. Everybody did a good job all around. We are looking forward to returning and we hope to have the same type of performance with better results.”
The 2000 champion’s last trip to victory lane took place ironically in Florida, but at Homestead-Miami Speedway on November 16th, 2003. He has 115 top-five and 200 top-10 career finishes to his credit with six of those top-five and nine top-10 finishes taking place at DIS.
“I came close to winning there a few times,” Labonte said.
To win at Daytona, Labonte is going to have to have the right partner since the two-car draft will come into play Saturday night. His team JTG Daugherty Racing team is technically aligned with Michael Waltrip Racing, but he’s keeping his options open for many reasons.
“I did that math and there’s three so that leaves an odd person out,” said Labonte, who is housed in the same facility with David Reutimann and Martin Truex Jr.’s teams. “I don’t think there will be much difference this time at Daytona and you will see two-car drafting throughout the whole race – – not just toward the end of the race. Other than Daytona being narrow, Talladega (Superspeedway) was proof of how drafting will be. I’m sure the grip level will be similar. Sure, it will be hotter and it may make a little difference, but like I said, I’m sure you will see two-car drafting during most of the race.
“I think you have to have several options in case something happens,” Labonte continues. “We’ve got some ideas. You are not necessarily going to run with the same person for 160 laps.”
A strong finish is just what Labonte and his JTG Daugherty team needs following Infineon Raceway. A top-15 run was derailed when another car made contact with Labonte’s machine sending it hard into the fence resulting in a 38th-place finish.
“We could have walked away with a respectable finish, but we got taken out just by racing, which sometimes just happens,” Labonte said. “One thing about us, I’ve got a great group of guys and everybody has kept upbeat. They are working real hard to be better than we are. We’ve had better days. It’s just a tough sport, sometimes you have good days and some days you have bad days.”
Live coverage of the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway airs on TNT beginning at 7:30 pm. ET. MRN and Sirius XM will also air the event.
Michael Annett: From Brake Pedal to Full Throttle for Rusty Wallace Racing
Michael Annett, driver of the No. 62 Pilot Flying J Toyota for Rusty Wallace Racing, is moving from stepping hard on his brake pedal at the Nationwide road course race last weekend to the upcoming full throttle action of Daytona International Speedway in this weekend’s race.
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[/media-credit]And on his way, he just happened to score the best finish of his season so far, seventh place on Wisconsin’s 4.048 mile Road America course.
Annett was Rusty Wallace Racing’s top finisher, earning his second top-10 finish and the team’s fifth top-10 finish for the year.
“It was definitely unexpected and I consider myself a survivor of that race,” Annett said. “We were down in the 20’s in the timing charts and I felt if we kept the fenders on the car and stayed on the track, we’d have a chance for a top-15 and then get to the end, and maybe have a chance for a top-10.”
“And we did and it was definitely exciting and good for our whole team.”
In spite of getting a top-10 finish, Annett still does not consider himself an accomplished road course racer.
“I definitely don’t consider myself a road course racer, but pit strategy and steering clear of trouble on the track brought us to another well-deserved top-10 finish,” Annett said.”My crew chief, Rick Viers, made some great calls, and working our way around the mayhem during the three attempts at a green, white, checkered there at the end was to our benefit.”
“We’ve got a great group of guys assembled for our No. 62 team, and their hard work really paid off this weekend,” Annett continued. “We made smart moves throughout the race, and bringing home a car with no damage and a seventh place finish is pretty awesome.”
“I’m excited to give Pilot Flying J and Rusty Wallace Racing another top-10.”
As excited as he was, Annett admitted that he was disappointed for his teammate Steve Wallace, who had what looked to be a potential winning car. Wallace was caught up in an accident later in the race and finished 26th.
“I definitely knew that he deserved a better finish than what he got,” Annett said of Wallace. “He had a really good car and he is a really good road racer. He surprised me this weekend I’ll be honest with you.”
En route to the road course race this weekend, Annett also celebrated another milestone, his 25th birthday.
“I flew on a plane from Concord Airport to Wisconsin for my birthday,” Annett said. “We landed and my mom went to a very good Italian restaurant in Elkhart Lake and her, myself and Reed Sorenson had pasta and pizza and cheese bread.”
“We were all full and then she whipped out an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen for dessert,” Annett continued. “It worked out very nice.”
After his birthday celebration and his great top-10 run, Annett was also very excited for his best friend Reed Sorenson’s victory at Road America.
“As soon as he finished, I pulled up next to him to be the first to congratulate him,” Annett said. “I ran down to Victory Lane and congratulated him there too.”
“He told me the odds would have been a thousand to one for him to win that race,” Annett said. “Better yet, me finishing seventh was even longer odds than that.”
Annett is now ready to move from pumping the brake pedals to running full throttle on the high banks of Daytona. While he has high hopes, he is not so fond of the two-car tandem draft that has become the norm at the superspeedways.
“To me, I enjoyed the chess match being in the big group in the draft, with the driver making the decision about what line to be in and where to be,” Annett said. “I really do not like the racing the way it is now. I don’t like relying on someone else to have success and that’s where we are right now.”
“I am fortunate enough that I have a teammate and we work really well together,” Annett continued. “Going to Daytona we have the same plan to work together. I don’t like it but having a teammate is fortunate going into it.”
While Annett felt that he had some control at the road course, he most certainly feels that it is just a roll of the dice at Daytona.
“I am looking at a top-10 finish to keep this momentum going,” Annett said. “But it’s always a crap shoot at Daytona.”
“I got taken out on lap 15 at Daytona this year and in the last few laps of Talladega,” Annett continued. “It’s really a crap shoot but we definitely have the potential to have both cars in the top-10 at the end. We’re going into the weekend planning on that.”
Annett heads to Daytona in the 10th position in the Nationwide Series championship point standings. He has a win at that track from back in his days with the ARCA Racing Series.
Kevin Harvick Incorporated Goes All-In For Nationwide Series Race at Daytona
With the idea of the two-car dance coming into play at the restrictor plate track, it’s no surprise that some teams are putting their forces together to make sure that they’ve got it set up.
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[/media-credit]One of those teams is Kevin Harvick Incorporated as they’ll be entering four cars instead of their typical three for a restrictor plate.
Driving the No. 2 Chevrolet will be Elliott Sadler, who has driven the car all year long.
“At Daytona, it’s either feast of famine for me,” Sadler said. “We had a really fast car there in February, but got caught up in a wreck early and finished 38th. Of course, my team owner Kevin Harvick will be in another OneMain Financial car, so I’m sure that we will find each other and help each other throughout the whole race. I’m thrilled for the opportunity to help OneMain Financial to celebrate their brand launch this weekend, and I hope that we can bring home a victory for everyone! Daytona is a special place to a lot of people because it is the France family’s birthplace and where the roots of NASCAR started. I always look forward to going down there on the Fourth of July weekend. It’s a special race that kind of marks the middle of the season. When you leave Daytona, you have a feeling of how the rest of the season will go. It’s going to be a great race.”
The Emporia, Virgina native has had the least success of the group at Daytona as he has competed in the Nationwide Series there four times with a best finish of 15th in 1997. Though he’s not inexperienced by any means following 24 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Daytona with four top-fives and nine top-10s.
Sadler is hoping to dance with his experienced teammates to jump from second to first in points as he sits second, five points behind Reed Sorenson.
Driving the No. 4 will be team owner Kevin Harvick, who is looking for more success in his own equipment. Harvick has captured two poles, one victory, 12 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes in his previous 17 starts at the 2.5-mile oval.
“It’s is going to be interesting heading into the race at Daytona because there are so many factors that play into your success at this track,” he said. “Racing Daytona in July is a lot different than racing there in February. The track gets hot and slick and the handling characteristics become exaggerated. With the new racing surface you also need a good drafting partner. KHI is fielding four cars for this race, so finding a partner shouldn’t be too difficult. I’m excited about our chances of success at this race, not only as a driver but as a team owner.”
Driving the No. 9 will be Tony Stewart, who returns back to the seat of a Kevin Harvick Incorporated car after his win back in February at Daytona.
“It’s a small team size-wise,” Stewart said. “But as far as equipment and everything, Kevin and DeLana [Harvick] prepare cars that are some of the best cars in the Nationwide Series.”
Stewart is the secret to KHI’s Daytona success it may seem as he has scored them all four of their wins.
“I think it’s because of the attention to detail that Kevin and DeLana put into their racecars. You see it in their Truck Series program,” he added. “You see it in their Nationwide Series program. They just do everything first class. I always have the confidence when I get in one of their cars that I’m in just as competitive a car as I could be with any other organization out there. They’re first class, and that’s the kind of group that you want to be with when you do a one-off race like this. You have that confidence. You don’t worry about anything. You know that they’re giving you the best equipment that you can get in that series. It’s always fun. It’s fun to drive for one of your good friends like Kevin and DeLana, but at the same time knowing that they’ve got really good racecars just tops it all off.”
Lastly, driving the No. 33 will be Clint Bowyer, who has also ran some races in the past with KHI. Back in February, it was Bowyer who finished second to Stewart’s win, only by the third closest margin in the series at 0.007 seconds.
“Daytona is what NASCAR is all about,” he said. “It started there, and it means so much to be able to go and compete and it’s just such an awesome race track. We were so close to winning in February with this No. 33 KHI team. We had some tough breaks and got involved in accidents while running up front at Talladega [Superspeedway] in April, and then at Dover [International Speedway] in May. I’m looking forward to being back with the KHI guys, and I really want to get this Menards Chevy in victory lane and get another win at Daytona.”
Bowyer is not a driver to underestimate as he has eight top-five and 10 top-10 finishes and won the race in 2009 after leading 48 laps for Richard Childress Racing.
Kevin Harvick Incorporated’s success at Daytona International Speedway is impressive as since 2005, KHI has four wins, two poles, eight top-five and 11 top-10 finishes. So as the race nears conclusion, don’t be surprised if one of the two KHI pairs are fighting their way for the lead.
