Bobby Labonte all set for some short track action at Bristol

Bobby Labonte has 40 starts at Bristol Motor Speedway with an average start of 21.7 and an average finish of 20.6. The 2000 champion has three top-five, 10 top-10 finishes and has led 60 laps. His best finish is third-place (3/23/2003). There have been 104 races at Bristol with 45 pole winners and 40 race winners. The Corpus Christi, Texas-native is currently 24th in the points standings, 66 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

JTG Daugherty Racing Bristol Motor Speedway Quotes:

“I enjoy Bristol,” said Bobby Labonte, who will be piloting the No. 47 BUSH’S Beans Toyota this weekend. “Each year the competition gets tighter and qualifying is such a key factor there. The last race out, the top groove wasn’t good in the first-half, but it came in the second-half. It seemed to be hard to pass on bottom. It will be interesting to see what the new car holds because it could be totally different.”

“I won my first NASCAR race there in the Nationwide Series beating out David Green and Dale Earnhardt, so Bristol is special to me,” Labonte continued. “You never know where you are going to win your first one and to win there was really cool. I’d love to win a Cup race there.”

“The last two weeks have been pretty tough for the No. 47 BUSH’S Beans Toyota team,” crew chief Brian Burns said. “We have learned a lot about the new Gen-6 in a very short amount of time. We are definitely looking forward to going to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend with some of these tricks that we have learned. Bobby has had a lot of good runs at Bristol in the recent past and it is the perfect place to gain some positive momentum to get us back on track this season.”

“Growing up in East Tennessee and racing at Bristol has always meant family, friends and food,” JTG Daugherty Racing co-owner Jodi Geschickter said. “I was born in Knoxville and went to the University of Tennessee, so we consider Bristol our home track. My family has always come to Bristol. In fact, my grandmother came to the track with us until she was 93 years old. I’m not sure she could see what was going on, but she could feel the rumble and loved it. Winning the Nationwide race there (with driver Jeff Fuller in 1996) was priceless. With Bush Brothers headquartered in Knoxville, we always have our sponsor family members at the track too. They have been our partners for over a decade and we’ve eaten and sold a lot of beans together. In Bristol, we fire up the grill, get the beans ready and enjoy the view of the campfires and the smell of smoke on the mountains.”

JTG PT