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Hometown:High Point, N.C.
Resides: Trinity, N.C.
D.O.B.: February 5, 1981
As the new millennium arrived in the year 2000, a teenager from Trinity, N.C., awoke to a new opportunity: carrying on the “family business.” But it was no ordinary career that beckoned 19-year-old Justin Labonte. It was an extraordinary family history in racing that put a new generation of Labontes behind the wheel of a big-time stock car.
Now, seven years later … with numerous race victories and two regional track championships on his resume, 26-year-old Justin Labonte is poised to push his way back onto NASCAR’s big stage. With his sights set squarely on opportunities in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and Busch Series, the son of two-time Cup Series champion Terry Labonte remains busy racing his late-model stocker on short tracks around the Carolinas – most recently on the dirt oval at Dublin Motor Speedway in southeastern North Carolina.
When most teens reach their 16th birthday, one of the first things they do is get a driver’s license. Justin was no different but did take things a step further in 1997, claiming a division championship at Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, N.C. He set the tone for that season by winning the 20-lap mini-stock feature on opening night. Also in 1997, Justin placed second in the season point standings at Concord (N.C.) Motorsports Park.
All told, he won 25 feature races in a two-year period that paved the way for his advance to the Hooters Pro Cup Series in 1998. Labonte quickly made his mark there, finishing third in the season point standings with 13 top-10 finishes in 20 starts. He completed more than 96 percent of all laps possible, a series high for the year.
On April 3, 1999 (some two months before his high school graduation), Justin made his NASCAR Busch Series debut in Nashville, Tenn. His best finish in nine starts during that rookie season was 14th in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The year 2000 found Labonte continuing in the Busch Series but also embarking on a three-year foray into the ARCA (Automobile Racing Club of America) Series. Highlights of his limited schedule there included top-10 finishes at Lowe’s Motor Speedway near Charlotte, N.C.; Atlanta Motor Speedway and Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
Justin’s 2003 racing appetite was satisfied by a weekly diet of success in late-model competition as part of the nationally-sanctioned Dodge Weekly Series at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, N.C. He won seven feature races en route to the track championship at Caraway, where his uncle Bobby had won the crown 16 years earlier. Justin’s 2003 accomplishments set the stage for his return to the Busch Series the following year.
In 2004, while running a partial schedule for family-owned Labonte Racing, Justin claimed his first Busch Series victory in just the 31st start of his career – taking the checkered flag July 10 in the Tropicana Twister 300 at Chicagoland Speedway. The following season, Labonte’s first full-time effort in the Busch Series netted a best finish of seventh place in April at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. He was running at the finish in 25 of 32 starts and won more than $890,000.
Justin returned to Caraway Speedway in 2006 and won three feature races while campaigning on a limited basis. He also drove a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to a 22nd-place finish in the October Busch Series race at Memphis (Tenn.) Motorsports Park and competed in his first-ever Craftsman Truck Series event in November at Texas Motor Speedway, finishing 23rd in a Bill Davis-owned Toyota.
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