T. Labonte, P.J. Jones Test at VIR: With the final NASCAR Winston Cup Series final road-course race of the season coming up this weekend at New York’ Watkins Glen International, a pair of teams got in some last-minute testing at VIRginia International Raceway near Danville, VA. Hendrick Motorsports #5 Kellogg’ team with two-time series champion Terry Labonte and A.J. Foyt Racing’ #14 Conseco team with P.J. Jones spent the day circulating the 3.27-mile full circuit at VIR. While it was a normal road-course test for Labonte’ team, Jones was coming to grips with the Foyt team for the second race of a two-race deal. “It’ the first time weve been up here,” said crew chief Mike Hillman. “Weve heard a lot of good things about it, and were trying to get P.J. and myself acclimated together a little bit for Watkins Glen. Im really impressed with the racetrack and the facilities up here. It’ a really nice place.” It was also Jones first time at VIR, and he seemed to have no trouble adapting both to a new track and team. “It’ a great facility,” he said. “The track’ nice. Probably the biggest thing is that we dont seem to be wearing out tires, which is a big factor, and were getting good repeatability out of the changes that were making because the tires arent falling off.” Jones was entered in a second Foyt car at last week’ Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but failed to qualify for the race. He’ looking forward to racing at Watkins Glen this weekend, but isnt sure what the future holds. Over in the Labonte camp, the Jim Long-led team found their car had the wrong gearing for the long course, but had a productive day nonetheless. “It definitely helps us,” Long said. “It helps us make sure our brakes our right and our carburetors are right. You can have stumbling in the carburetor a lot on road courses, and it gives our engine man a chance to get that worked out. When we unload at Watkins Glen we can work on chassis stuff, we dont have to worry about all those little items. While Long had tested at VIR previously with a different team, it was Labonte’ first visit. “It’ a pretty neat track,” he said. “It’ good for what we need to accomplish. Were trying to check out our road-course car before we go to Watkins Glen and just make sure everything is okay; that there are no vibrations and the brakes work and all that stuff, you know?”(VIR PR)(8-7-2002) (8-6-2002)
