Trinity, N.C. (March 28, 2012) – Bobby Labonte Racing (BLR) successfully debuted its latest Longhorn Chassis last weekend in Indiana with Earl Pearson Jr. finishing 10th. The team now looks to improve its performance with the No. 44 Lucas Oil/MavTV Dodge this weekend. In fact, the team will have two nights to help get more familiar with the new chassis. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will compete this Friday night at Jackson (Miss.) Motor Speedway and then again Saturday night at the LoneStar Speedway in Kilgore, Texas.
This will be the first time the series has visited Jackson Motor Speedway while it marks the second consecutive season Pearson Jr. will race at LoneStar Speedway. Pearson Jr. and BLR team currently sit seventh in championship points.
Comments from Earl Pearson Jr. Heading into this Weekend:
“It was a little bit of a slow start last weekend in Indiana with the new car. Actually, we were pretty fast in hot laps and qualifying, but then had some trouble in the heat race. That set us back a bit, but when the feature came around we found something with the car that really helped us. After that, we really took off, and I feel good about the car. Hopefully we can just continue to improve with it and get a bit better each time out.
“We’ve got two races this weekend and both are tracks that we don’t have a lot of experience on. This is our first time to Jackson, but I’ve raced there a long time ago. It’s been a while and I’m not really sure what the track may look like now. We’re going to have to work hard to adjust, but everyone is in the same boat as us. Saturday night in Texas, that will be our second trip there. They have talked about having a new surface for us. That will probably help out everyone and make it a good show.
“We just want to really improve on our starting position right now for the features. We hate starting so far back and having to spend the race moving up. We need to get a better heat race result and then start up closer to the front. I think we’ve got a car capable of winning, but it’s a matter of getting ourselves in position. Hopefully we can do that this weekend. I know Saturday night, racing in Texas, we’ll have a lot of Bobby (Labonte) fans rooting for us. We want to make them proud.”