Labonte Ready for Loudon

LOUDON, N.H. (July 17, 2003) – You’ll notice a smile on Terry Labonte’s face as he heads north to New Hampshire International Speedway for this weekend’s race -- with good reason. One of Labonte’s favorite race cars is stowed away on the No. 5 team’s hauler under the watchful eyes of driver Dean Mozingo as he travels up I-95 toward Loudon. Chassis No. 261 is locked and loaded for the July 20 New England 300. It’s had a couple months of rest and refurbishing after Labonte rode it to the pole position for the Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway in May. It was Labonte’s 27th career pole position and earned him a spot in next year’s season-opening Budweiser Shootout special event. This is one of six new cars the Kellogg’s / got milk? Racing team has debuted this year. No. 261 was first raced April 13 at Martinsville, Va., where it finished 14th. Three weeks later, the car returned to competition at Richmond. Labonte started from the pole and led 30 laps, but suffered a broken shock during the early stages of the event and finished 21st. The car was tested in Milwaukee the week of June 16 and pronounced fit for the demands of Loudon’s tight, flat 1.058-mile oval. “I’m not saying we’ll go up to New Hampshire and win the pole with this car, like we did at Richmond,” Labonte said. “But we need to get our qualifying rhythm back. We were pretty steady up until Sonoma a few weeks ago. We’ve been a little off since then. “Track position is always crucial at Loudon, which puts an even greater premium on a good starting spot.” Other tracks where Labonte and the No. 5 have rolled out new cars this year were in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Rockingham, N.C., in February; Las Vegas in March and Sonoma, Calif., in June. By far, the most successful chassis in the “Class of ’03” has been No. 266 -- with a fifth-place finish at Talladega, Ala., and most recently, a fourth-place effort on July 5 in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona. The team tested its seventh new 2003 chassis at Indianapolis this week, with its official debut set for Aug. 3 in the 10th running of the Brickyard 400.