Labonte Endures Frustrating Day; Finishes 26th at Michigan

BROOKLYN, Mich., Sunday, Aug. 2, 2004 - Bobby Labonte fought an ill-handling race car and finished 26^th Aug. 22 in the GFS Marketplace 400 at historic Michigan International Speedway.

Greg Biffle won the event, while Labonte remained ninth in the point standings. 

"We had a long, frustrating day," Labonte said. "We just couldn't get the car to do what we needed it to do. We were lucky not to drop any spots in the point standings, but the race is really, really tight right now."

After qualifying was canceled due to rain, Labonte started ninth in the No. 18 Wellbutrin XL Chevrolet. He fell to 12^th on Lap 1 and then fell several spots when rookie Kasey Kahne spun on Lap 2.

"I had to slow down to avoid hitting him," Labonte said. "We lost about 10 spots to guys, because we really had get slowed down to avoid him."

The team decided to pit in order to begin working on what was already a tight race car. After four tires, fuel and a track bar and tire pressure adjustment, Labonte restarted the race in 31^st position.

Unfortunately, despite many more changes throughout the day, the car never became better handling and Labonte was able to run only as high as 19^th the remainder of the day. He wound up finishing 26^th.

Despite the poor finish, Labonte remained ninth in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings. Kevin Harvick is 33 points ahead of Labonte, while Kasey Kahne is just seven points behind Labonte. The difference in points between ninth-place Labonte and 15^th-place McMurray is only 77 points.

The next NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series event is the Sharpie 500 Saturday night, Aug. 28 at Bristol International Speedway. Labonte finished 33rd at the track back in March, after being involved in an early-race incident. The race starts at 7 p.m. (EDT), and will be broadcast live on TNT and PRN.