With three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers winning their three respective races, April 9 marked yet another milestone in Joe Gibbs Racing’s ongoing 14-year history. Bobby Labonte, driver of the #18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series undercard race at Martinsville Speedway. Following Labonte’s Saturday triumph were Joe Gibbs Racing’s diversity drivers Chris Bristol and Aric Almirola. The two Late Model drivers competing in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series won their respective races at Hickory Motor Speedway and Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, VA. Bristol, in his #92 MBNA Chevrolet with associate sponsorship from Rockwell Automation and Cintas, started fifth in Hickory’s 50-lap Late Model race and ended the race in first, becoming the first African-American driver to win in Hickory’s 55-year history. The win also placed the 27-year-old Bristol in a three-way tie for first in the track’s championship point standings.
Almirola, in his #92 Home Depot Chevrolet with associate sponsorship from Rockwell Automation and Cintas, started sixth in the Motor Mile’s 150-lap Late Model feature and finished first. It was the 20-year-old’s first win of the 2005 season and his second top-three finish at Motor Mile. The Hispanic driver from Tampa, Fla., finished third in the March 19 Doughton Racing Products 300. Both cars are carrying the number 92 in tribute to the late Reggie White, co-founder of Joe Gibbs Racing’s diversity program. The #92 is the number White wore throughout his football career, playing at the University of Tennessee before becoming a Hall of Fame defensive end in the National Football League. Also of note on Saturday was the seventh-place finish of 23-year-old Woody Howard in Saturday night’s USAR Hooter’s Pro Cup race at South Boston Speedway. Howard, Joe Gibbs Racing’s recently signed development driver, started his first career Hooter’s Pro Cup race in his Dean Motorsports entry from the outside pole before finishing a solid seventh in the 250-lap race. (True Speed Communication/Joe Gibbs Racing)(4-11-2005)
