Justin Labonte filling in for Kyle Busch at Memphis
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
BAMBI MATTILA / NASCAR SCENE /
Justin Labonte will drive Hendrick Motorsports' No. 5 Busch Series entry at Memphis Motorsports Park this weekend, with regular driver Kyle Busch electing to focus solely on the Nextel Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend.
Busch had been attempting to run every event in both series this season and sits sixth in points after 31 Busch Series races. Paul Menard, just eight points behind Busch, will surpass him for sixth place by starting Saturday's race.
Roush Racing's Greg Biffle, eighth in points, is also skipping Memphis to focus on Atlanta, meaning Busch will lose only one spot.
Busch sits 10th in the Cup standings, 171 points behind leader Matt Kenseth with four races left in the Chase For The Nextel Cup.
Labonte ran the entire Busch Series schedule last season with Haas CNC Racing, finishing 17th in points with two top-10 finishes. His lone career win came at Chicagoland Speedway in 2004, when he was running a limited schedule with his family-owned team.
Labonte has not made a start in the series this year but has practiced and qualified the car for Busch on several occasions.
