Bobby Labonte excited to have brother as teammate
By SceneDaily Staff
Friday, May 16, 2008
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Bobby Labonte is excited to have brother Terry Labonte as his teammate later this year.
Terry Labonte will come out of retirement to do five races in the No. 45 Petty Enterprises car when Kyle Petty heads to the TNT broadcast booth. Labonte will test for the team May 27-28 at Pocono Raceway, which will be the site of the first race he drives for Petty. He also likely will test at Virginia International Raceway (a road course) and Kentucky Speedway
(an intermediate track).
Although the team is outside the top 35 in points, Terry Labonte will have access to a past champion's provisional.
"It makes sense in a lot of ways," Bobby Labonte said Thursday prior to the NASCAR Sprint Car Series Pit Crew Challenge. "It was a good idea. ... I said if he wants to do it, it's a great idea. But he's got to want to do it. I made sure they called him.
"I didn't drag him into it. I think he's happy doing something like that. Just like a lot of guys that have done it for a long time, 38 races [he's] done it, been there and doesn't want to do it no more."
Bobby Labonte called having Terry as a teammate at Pocono, Michigan, Infineon, New Hampshire and Daytona a big deal.
"We kind of have similar driving characteristics, but we don't necessarily use the same setups," Bobby Labonte said. "You have to have pretty much an open mind. I think he will have that because he doesn't have a preconceived notion about it at this point in time.
"He'll have an open mind about it, and we can talk about it and hopefully improve."
Terry Labonte retired from full-time competition in 2004, ran 14 races in 2005, 17 races in 2006 and three in 2007.
"Last year he ran Sonoma [and The Glen] in the car of tomorrow, so I was explaining that probably Sonoma and Daytona would be the best of all of them," Bobby Labonte said. "The rest of them, it's not going to handle quite as good."
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Bobby Labonte
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