Bobby Labonte hopes a bit of comfort and experience at Stafford Speedway pays off for Race No. 2 on Thursday night. (Photo: SRX Racing | Wayne Riegle)
STAFFORD, Conn. – After a storied 25-year NASCAR Cup Series career with 21 wins and the 2000 championship, Bobby Labonte has been a staying power in the Camping World SRX Series.
At age 59, there simply is no slowing down the Corpus Christi, Texas native on the racetrack. Whether it is with his modified racing efforts or the identically prepared stock cars of SRX, Labonte is still as competitive as ever.
Nowadays, Labonte’s hair has changed from brown to the racer’s veteran gray hair. In a way, it makes the amiable racer sport that intellectual, dean of motorsports look despite his youthful disposition.
In the latest chapter of the 2020 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee, the Texan pursue his first SRX championship and second career win in this all-star series. Last year, the versatile racer won Race No. 4 at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, besting Marco Andretti and Matt Kenseth, among others.
For the past two seasons, Labonte placed third in the championship standings in part to his trademark consistency. More times than not, when the competition looks worn out, Labonte and his car look ready for another two to three hour scrap at the track.
Last Thursday night for the season opener at Stafford Speedway, Labonte did not have the best of outings, placing eighth due to damage from a crash in the feature event.
Consistency proved pivotal for Labonte’s third place championship standing results in the Camping World SRX’s first two seasons. (Photo: Sam Draiss | The Podium Finish)
Still, because of his strong performance in Heat No. 1, he enters Race No. 2 at Stafford (9 p.m. ET on ESPN) ranked fourth in the standings, just 16 markers behind points leader Ryan Newman.
Much like the glory years in NASCAR, Labonte is no stranger to racing at the same track for a second weekend in a row. After all, he was used to this practice with Daytona Speedweeks and the NASCAR All-Star Race and Coca-Cola 600 being on consecutive weekends.
Given his experiences with this scenario and racing at Stafford, is there a bit of a home field advantage?
“I think so,” Labonte said. “There are some guys that are coming in that didn’t race last weekend here. It’s going to be, Tony (Stewart), myself, and six others who are going to be accustomed to the racetrack from last weekend. And Ryan Preece will be accustomed from his past here.”
Naturally, Labonte, along with Stewart, Brad Keselowski, Ken Schrader, Hailie Deegan, Marco Andretti, Paul Tracy and Newman seem like easy pre-race favorites. Then again, as Labonte points out, it will not be so straightforward to having the CliffsNotes guide of prospering at the 0.5-mile paved short track.
“It’ll be different, for sure,” he said. “I know that we talked about afterwards how the setup might be a little bit different for this weekend. So that might still be a challenge whether we were here last weekend or not because it might be a little bit different.”
Unlike last Thursday night, Race No. 2 should not be threatened by pending rain and thunderstorms. While the summertime humidity remains, it may be a different race altogether for those who competed in the rain shortened season opener.
Maybe experience and confidence will pay dividends for the 2000 NASCAR Cup Series champion on Thursday night. (Photo: SRX Racing | Wayne Riegle)
In spite of the all-star, IROC-like atmosphere, Labonte is still motivated and fired up to win another stock car championship. A path toward winning the SRX title may catalyze at full strength with a win in Thursday night’s race.
Home field advantage or not, Labonte looks forward to racing at The Constitution State again, turning to his confidence and experience with prevailing at the storied short track.
“I feel like in my heart that coming back here is better for me than going somewhere else,” Labonte said. “So I’ll take this as helping me out personally to come back to this track. But I don’t look at it as an advantage. I just look at it as comfort. Maybe throughout the race, I can still rely on those things that I did pick up on last weekend.”
