Luke & Associates to sponsor Labonte at New Hampshire

JTG Daugherty Racing is pleased to announce that Luke & Associates, Inc. will sponsor Bobby Labonte and the No. 47 Toyota Camry for the first time during the LENOX Industrial Tools 301 at the 1.058-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) oval.

“It’s good to have our friends at Luke & Associates on board at New Hampshire Motor Speedway,” Labonte said.

“We are proud to be a part of JTG Daugherty Racing,” said Jim Barfield, CEO for Luke & Associates. “The ability to further support our troops by signifying them on the hood is exciting for us as a company and fans.”

There have been 34 NASCAR Sprint Cup races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and four drivers have competed in all 34 races. Labonte is one of them along with Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon and Joe Nemechek. In those attempts, Labonte has recorded five top-five, 11 top 10 finishes, one pole award and led 72 laps. His best finish is second (9/17/2000) during his championship year.

“I’m looking forward to racing at New Hampshire,” said Labonte, who wants to join the list of 20 different drivers that have won (led by Jeff Burton with four wins) at the venue. “It’s a place we can go to and have a lot better run. Hopefully, we will be able to capitalize at a place like Loudon. I’ve enjoyed it and it’s a great place to go to. I feel confident we can run well there with the No. 47 Luke & Associates Toyota Camry.”

In May, Labonte participated in a Goodyear tire test at Loudon.

“We participated in the Goodyear tire test about two months ago,” Labonte said. “It rained and we didn’t get much time on the track. I think that they are going to come back with a little bit different tire. It seemed to be pretty good and our car was happy with it.”

Recently, Labonte and his JTG Daugherty Racing team dodged several bullets to finish in the top-10 (10th) at Daytona International Speedway. It was the single-car team’s best finish of the season placing them back in the top-25 (24th) in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings.

“We struggled with speed all weekend long and our car didn’t suck up in the draft like we had hoped,” Labonte said. “We had to work hard to keep up. We were close to being collected in the last wreck and the one involving Denny Hamlin. We were able to miss everything. Actually I spun out earlier, when I got tagged in the back of my Kingsford Charcoal Camry. We had our own wreck and we had to fix it. There at the end, it is plate racing, speedway racing whatever you want to call it. It’s a product of it and a chance big wrecks are going to happen. We were fortunate. We’re hoping to have a good run this weekend at New Hampshire to build some momentum during these summer months.”

Following New Hampshire, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has its final off weekend of the season.

“We’ve been traveling a lot and it’s really nice to have an off week from the racing schedule during the midst of summer to relax and recharge,” Labonte said. “It’s also a great time to spend with the family and catch up. We’re kicking around a few ideas of what to do next week, but we haven’t decided yet.”

JTG