| | FORT WORTH, Texas -- Bobby and Terry Labonte come home this weekend, the former leading the NASCAR Winston Cup driver standings, the latter trying to win for the first time since last year's race at Texas Motor Speedway.
The brothers, Texas natives who now live closer to the NASCAR hub in North Carolina, have had success at the Fort Worth track. They are the only drivers to finish in the top 10 of all three Winston Cup races there.
In this weekend's DirecTV 500, Bobby Labonte tries to continue his fast Winston Cup start. He has five top-10 finishes in six races, including a victory at Rockingham, N.C., in February.
Terry Labonte wants to build on his best finish of the season, fifth last weekend at Bristol, Tenn. His first top five of the season pushed him up three spots to ninth in the driver standings.
And he'd like to repeat the scene of a year ago, when he passed Dale Jarrett on the 323rd of 334 laps and went on to win his 21st Winston Cup race.
"When I passed him, I saw everybody in the stands stand up," Terry Labonte said. "Most of the time when you're racing, you don't notice the people in the stands. I noticed them there. The whole place was standing up cheering. It was pretty exciting."
Texas Motor Speedway could provide a boost for Terry Labonte, who has just five top-10 finishes in 34 races since his last victory. Last year, he failed to finish in the top 10 in the standings for the first time since 1993.
"Some drivers have certain tracks they like and tracks where they get around well. Texas is one of those tracks for Terry. I don't know why," said Gary Dehart, his crew chief. "If a driver likes a track, part of your battle is won for you already."
Familiarity and success are probably the reasons Terry Labonte likes Texas Motor Speedway, where this week he will be making a NASCAR-record 643rd consecutive start. Before his 1999 victory, he finished sixth in 1998 and fourth in the inaugural race in 1997.
The Labonte brothers tested at the track when it was new and were there for testing again last year.
"Every time we've been there, we've run well," Terry Labonte said. "It's a good place to run well at. They've made some great improvements, and it's a good track. It's pretty special to go down there and run good."
Terry Labonte was 44th in qualifying Thursday for this weekend's Busch race at Texas Motor Speedway, and will try again Friday to get into the 36-car field. Bobby Labonte will join him for Winston Cup qualifying.
Racing in their home state creates a crazier-than-usual schedule.
"Yeah, it's the same thing, but it is a little crazy," Bobby Labonte said. "They do have me running around quite a bit. So it is busier, but it's not bad." | |
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