Michigan One of Labonte's Best
Three-time Winner Heads To Track With Fruity Cheerios Dodge

This weekend, Bobby Labonte and the #43 Fruity Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge head to the two-mile Michigan International Speedway for Sunday's GFS Marketplace 400.  Labonte will be racing the colorful Fruity Cheerios paint scheme this weekend.

Labonte and the team finished 28 th after starting fifth at Michigan in June.  Labonte raced in the top-15 all afternoon before a tire issue sent the team back.  Labonte was in position to battle back to the front but rain ended the race early. 

Labonte has always been strong at the fast, wide oval.  He has three wins at the track and did a season sweep in 2003.  He has 15 top-10 and nine top-five finishes at the track in his career.  Labonte has also won four poles at Michigan .  Labonte will be busy this weekend.  He will also race in Saturday's Michigan 250 Busch Series event.

Comments from Labonte as he prepares for this weekend's GFS Marketplace 400:

Why are you so successful at Michigan ?

“I really like the track. It's probably one of my favorite tracks.  I don't know. It's a real wide track and a driver can make a big difference.  It's so wide that you have to find a line that works best for you.  You can move around and find the place where the car works the best.  You can't do that at every track, but that's what Michigan is all about.  It's a challenge, but I think I've found different ways to get the best out of the cars I've had their.  I enjoy that.

“Our Cheerios Dodge was really strong in June.  We qualified fifth and had a good enough car to race in the top-10 most of the time.  We had some handling issues early, but we came back from that.  The car was working well, but we had a rare tire problem at the end.  It started to rain, and that's when we got stuck with a finish that didn't show what our car was capable of.  That's just bad luck.  Hopefully we'll have some better luck this weekend.”

Are you excited to get back to Michigan ?

“I am.  Watkins Glen is probably not my favorite track, but we got a descent finish out of there.  We had a lot of things happening with changes back at the shop, but I think things have settled back down.  We have our game plan set for this weekend and things in order.  Any time you make a change you are going to have to dig down and work harder.  The guys on this team have done that.  They don't want to pause for anything.  Everyone just wants to keep working hard. We've done that, and now we're going to a track where we've had a lot of success.

“The best is when you know the results are there.  We know that we can have a good run at Michigan .  We qualified fifth in June and had a good car. We just have to go back and do the same thing.  Hopefully we'll have luck on our side and we'll grab a good finish.”

You're pulling double-duty this weekend.  Does that help you prepare for Sunday?

“It gives you more time on the track.  The Busch car is different than a Cup car, but the seat time will always help.  You never know what the weather will be like, but hopefully it will be the same Saturday and Sunday. If you can get ahead with what the track will do it's an advantage.  I think it's going to good to have a bunch of information.  I'm sure I'll be in Greg's (Steadman) and Robbie's (Loomis) ear's a bunch letting them know what's going on between both cars.

“I've got high expectations every weekend, but I'm excited about Michigan .  I'll be doing lots of racing.  We've got a cool looking Fruity Cheerios Dodge we'll be racing on Sunday.  I know the kids in the stands and at home will want that car up front.  I'm going to do everything possible to get a good finish on Sunday.”