Less than three years ago, [Justin] Labonte was in victory lane at Chicagoland Speedway. Little has gone right since for the native of Trinity. Driving for a different Busch Series team was a nightmare. Sponsorship couldn’t be found to get him back in a Busch or Craftsman Truck ride. Now he’s taken an entirely different course. He’s traded Daytona for Dublin, Fontana for Fayetteville, learning the ropes of Super Late Model racing on a pair of Cape Fear region dirt tracks. Dean Bowen of Whiteville, the 2006 Super Late Model champion at Dublin Motor Speedway and its current points leader, said Labonte has already shown 100% improvement in the three months they’ve raced each other. “If he runs this whole season and starts next season, he’ll be a contender to run with the rest of us,” Bowen said. That’s not the long-term goal, though. The Labontes are building an asphalt car for the Taco Bell 300 at Martinsville, Va., later this year, and Justin said he has “some things we’re working on” on the sponsorship front to get him back into NASCAR. “If I had a sponsor, I feel like we could go to a decent team now and run well,” Justin said. “Hopefully I’ll get it going again.”(Fayetteville Observer)(6-20-2007)
