Bobby Labonte: New England 300 preview

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. -- This weekend the NASCAR Winston Cup Series will return to the New England region for the first time this season as they invade New Hampshire International Speedway. And while the one-mile oval has been on the circuit since 1993, the trip this weekend will mark their first time the teams will have a chance to try out the newly reconstructed and repaved turns.

"It should be pretty interesting, but I don't expect too many surprises though," said Labonte. "We'll all be in the same boat in terms of the teams trying to adapt to the new asphalt and what we need to do to our cars to make it go fast. I really don't expect any problems or issues. We all have the same amount of practice time Friday morning so we'll hopefully be close in terms of our set-up when we unload."

While Labonte was a no-show at a recent test session held at the track, he feels no anxiety in terms of getting out on the track and pushing the limits. One of his reasons for being so relaxed is the fact that teammate Tony Stewart tested his No. 20 Chevrolet there a couple of weeks ago and the two teams share all information gathered during tests of that nature.

"Well we decided to test at Indy and the No. 20 utilized one of their tests up at New Hampshire," explained Labonte. "NASCAR cut our tests back to five per team this year so we have to be very smart in how we use them between the two teams. From what I understand, the track was a bit tighter than it had been in the past and I hear there's a lot of grip as well. We'll use the notes from Greg (Zipadelli) and the No. 20 team as a base (set-up) and hopefully we'll be in the ballpark when we unload. If not, we'll keep working on it."

"Hopefully once we get all the cars out there during practice we can get some rubber laid down and a second groove will come in," continued Labonte. "As drivers, it gives us an option for making passes and for fans it makes for more side-by-side racing. That's what we're all hoping for I think."

After a couple of years of talk and speculation, the management at New Hampshire International Speedway decided to take the major step of tearing up both ends of the track in the hopes of never having to worry about the condition of the asphalt being a factor in future events. Over the past couple of seasons, the asphalt seemed to be coming up in certain areas under the summer heat and weight of the Winston Cup cars.

"You've got to hand it to the Bahre family," admitted Labonte. "They always seem to try and do whatever they can to make sure they have good races at their facility. They have been waiting for the soft-walls to be approved and now they are working on that for the September race I hear. This reconstruction of the turns is just another example of them stepping up to the plate to make things right. I applaud them for that and look forward to racing there this weekend."