Crash sends Labonte to the back of the field

LOUDON, N.H. -- Bobby Labonte, who won the Bud Pole for the New England 300 in 2000, crashed his Interstate Batteries Pontiac in the opening moments of Saturday morning's first NASCAR Winston Cup practice coming off Turn 4.

	Bobby Labonte

Labonte, who was on his first run of the day, was forced to go to his backup Grand Prix after he hit the wall with the right rear corner of the car, with which he won his lone race this season, in April at Martinsville Speedway.

Labonte returned to the race track about 30 minutes into the 45-minute session and ended up with the 14th best lap, 29.747 seconds, 128.040 mph.

Matt Kenseth was fastest in the session in the No. 17 DeWalt/AT&T Ford, with a lap in 29.560 seconds, 128.850 mph.

In the 45-minute final practice held later in the morning, Labonte fell back to 22nd when he ran a slightly slower lap in the hotter conditions. His 29.789-second effort trailed fast man Bobby Hamilton's 29.463/129.274 run in the No. 55 Square D Chevrolet.

The Featherlite Modified Series race that was rained out Friday afternoon was completed before Winston Cup practice, but Labonte said the different rubber compound used by the Modifieds had nothing to do with his spin.

"I got out on the race track and got going as fast as I could as quick as I could, which really wasn't as quick as some other guys," Labonte said. "And I spun out. It was nobody's fault but mine and I don't think it had anything to do with anything else."

Labonte made no effort to mask his disgust at having to give up his fourth starting position for Sunday's New England 300, having to drop to the rear of the field for going to his back-up car. He does have a good precedent, though, as the last time he had to unload a back-up car he won the 2000 Pepsi Southern 500 at Darlington from 37th position.

"It's no different than it was, there," Labonte said. "We ain't thought about strategy, taking two tires for track position, yet."

The 2000 Winston Cup champion was the third driver of the weekend to go to a backup car. In pre-qualifying practice Friday, Steve Park cut a tire and hit the Turn 2 wall in his No. 1 Pennzoil Chevrolet. Elliott Sadler spun his 21 Motorcraft Ford coming off Turn 4 and hit the wall.

However, Park and Sadler will maintain their 22nd and 39th place starting positions, respectively, since they qualified their backups.