Bobby Labonte and TRG Maintain Top-35 with Darlington Result

Labonte becomes the first NASCAR driver to have a smartphone app

Darlington, SC (May 10, 2010)- After one of their strongest qualifying effort of the year, Bobby Labonte and his No. 71 Taxslayer.com Chevy Impala SS had a number of highlights during Saturday's Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.

Qualifying 23rd, just behind Jimmie Johnson and just ahead of Tony Stewart, the team showed tremendous progress on some handling and balance issues they've been fighting all season, as shown throughout the early part of Bobby's race.

Unfortunately, just before lap 60 as his tires began to wear, the rear end of his car began to slide at the unforgiving speeds of Darlington, causing him to catch the wall and damaging his car. The car would continue throughout the race, however an additional spin, a cut tire, and finally another incident leading to hard contact would eventually retire the car in 34th position on lap 356, in what would be considered a typical Darlington action packed event.

For Crew Chief Doug Randolph, the team heads to next weekend's event in Dover with a number of positives from the Darlington race.

"Qualifying was a much better showing of where we're at with the car. Bobby and I are getting the car a lot closer to what we need to go fast, and I think we were looking really strong right up until the first incident. Dover should really reward a lot of what we've found in the car, so I'm looking forward to next Sunday."

For Team Owner Kevin Buckler, the team continues to show promise and solid improvements against some of the biggest names in the sport.

"The team did a great job at putting together one fast and competitive race car for Darlington. Even with a lot of incidents, the team kept their heads on straight and lost very little time with repairs, and it's that sort of attitude that will lead us to getting the results that we are after. Standing there at the start of the race with my friends from TaxSlayer and having their car sandwiched between Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart was pretty cool. TaxSlayer has been a fantastic partner and they are up there barking with the big dogs!!"

The next race will be the Autism Speaks 400 presented by Hershey's Milk & Milkshakes at the infamous Dover International Speedway, taking place Sunday May 16th at 1PM EST on Fox.