Good Guy Bobby Labonte Charging Back to Atlanta

by Charlie Turner

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March 5, 2009 9:07 am UTC 4 Comments

It’s been awhile for Bobby Labonte. I know, he finished 5th in the Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday. That was great. But not since, maybe 2003 has the soft spoken ex-champ been dominant anywhere.

That year he led 238 total laps in two Sprint Cup Series races at the track he used to pretty much own. When the Cup Series went to Atlanta Super Speedway, Bobby was an almost automatic pick.

Labonte finished 1st and 5th in the 2003 Atlanta races. He hasn’t seen the top ten at AMS since. But I played a hunch in this week’s One and Done NASCAR fantasy game. I took the No. 96 Ask.com Ford Fusion to win. I’m hoping those Doug Yates motors hold together for 500 miles. If they do, I like my chances.

Bobby and sponsor Ask.com are supporting the cause of safe Internet use for kids. Here’s what they have going for this weekend in Atlanta.

Before getting into the No. 96 Ask.com Ford Fusion for his qualifying laps at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Friday, March 6, driver Bobby Labonte will give a deserving fifth grader a ride to school and present Cotton Indian Elementary, in Stockbridge, Ga., a computer donation on behalf of Ask.com and the Safe Search Schools program. The program – a partnership between Ask.com, Web Wise Kids and NASCAR – launched in the Atlanta-area last month to promote Internet safety education and awareness. Local Atlanta teachers and students participated in the program by visiting safesearchschools.com, conducting Internet safety lessons and submitting their own ideas for how to be safe online. Cotton Indian Elementary was selected from nearly 200 entries by a Blue Ribbon Panel, comprised of Jim Safka, CEO of Ask.com; Mike Helton, president of NASCAR; Judi Westberg Warren, president of Web Wise Kids and Bobby Labonte, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver. Ask.com will continue to raise awareness about the importance of Internet safety education throughout the season by taking the program to other areas.

Filed under: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Bobby Labonte, Hall of Fame Racing, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, NASCAR, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing, Sprint Cup Series, Yates Racing