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Press Release

For Immediate Release

Bobby Labonte Racing Scores Top-15 in Indiana Icebreaker
Finishes 14th after Posting Strong Qualifying Run

TRINITY, N.C. (March 26, 2013) - The 16th Annual Indiana Icebreaker at Brownstown Speedway held true to its name as Earl Pearson Jr. and the Bobby Labonte Racing team faced cold weather and the chance of snow, but the frigid temperatures weren't about to stop the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series from racing Saturday night. Pearson Jr.'s performance in the event reminded everyone that his team is a threat this season. He showed its potential with a top-five finish in his heat race. Unfortunately, the track conditions changed for the feature and prevented him from battling for the win, but he held strong to finish with a top-15.

Pearson Jr. had a solid qualifying run and finished Heat 3 in second place, which allowed him to transfer to the feature with a sixth-place starting position. The BLR team, engineer Kevin Rumley and Pearson Jr. were happy with how well the car performed in qualifying and their respective heat race, and decided not to make any changes heading into the feature.

The track conditions quickly changed in the feature, however, which caused the No. 44 Lucas Oil Longhorn Chassis not to handle as well as it had during earlier competition. Pearson Jr. was unable to run with the leaders. He dropped out of the top-10, but held on to finish 14th in the 16th Annual Indiana Icebreaker.

"The car handled great during qualifying and my heat race," said Pearson Jr. "We were excited and agreed that as good as the car was, we wouldn't make any adjustments. The track conditions changed on us in the feature and it completely altered the handling of my car. It went from being near-perfect, to struggling. With our new chassis, those are things we will learn as we go along."

"We are all learning the new Longhorn chassis and adjustments that need to be made on it," said Rumley. "We didn't have the finish we wanted; however, we came back to the shop and already have a plan on what to work on to improve. We have some solid notes to build on, and we know we have some fast cars in our stable. We're still figuring out how the chassis responds to certain conditions, but we learned a lot this week that will make us stronger for our next race."

Pearson Jr. is now third in the driver championship point standings.
BLR takes the week off before two straight days of Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series competition. BLR will make a long road trip to Jackson, Miss. for the Southern 50 at Jackson Motor Speedway on Friday, April 6th. The team will then travel to Lonestar Speedway in Kilgore, Tex. for the High Banks Havoc on Saturday, April 7th.

About Bobby Labonte Racing:
BLR is located in Trinity, N.C., and owned by 2000 NASCAR Champion Bobby Labonte. The team was formed in 2007 and immediately won back-to-back Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championships. The organization is sponsored by Lucas Oil, Sunoco Race Fuels, Archdale Drug, Coca-Cola, ALLSTAR, Tiger Rear Ends, BERT, Butlerbuilt, Hyperco, SHY, Wilwood, Sweet, TWM, Dyers Top Rods, Weld Wheels, Bell, Hoosier Tire, PRC, Mechanix Wear, Larry Wallace Engines, ASI Racewear, Xtreme Graphics, Hank Thomas Performance, Wiles Drive Shafts, Bazel Race Fuels, FK Rod Ends and Peterson Fluid Systems.

About Longhorn Chassis
Longhorn Chassis was founded in 2010 by NASCAR Champion Bobby Labonte, along with his brother and two-time NASCAR Champion, Terry Labonte. After numerous successful seasons as a Dirt Late Model team owner with driver Earl Pearson Jr., Labonte decided to take it one step further with his racing operations and the team started building their own race cars, in shop. The first two late model chassis built out of Longhorn Chassis went to Justin Labonte and the house car, driven by Earl Pearson Jr. Pearson would debut his Longhorn Chassis at the North/South 100 in Florence, Ky., where he finished a solid second, he'd later record Longhorn Chassis' first Victory at the 2010 Dirt Track World Championships at West Virginia Motor Speedway. With just a couple of racing season under their belts, and numerous wins, Longhorn Chassis has already proven its strength and ability on the track.

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Contact:
Jeff Dennison
Breaking Limits
403 Gilead Road, Suite A
Huntersville, NC 28078
Office: 704-766-9061
Mobile: 704-252-3356
jdennison@breakinglimits.net

For Immediate Release
Contact: Susan Arnold
sarnold00@earthlink.net
949-637-2216

SALDANA AND MOTTER MOTORSPORTS TEAM READY FOR
INTENSE OUTLAWS COMPETITION IN MERCED

MERCED, Calif. – Fans attending the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Series this year have gotten their money’s worth of full fields of hard-charging drivers pounding the gas, driving high and low, sliding, spinning and flipping. Fans attending the Friday, March 29 race at Merced Speedway will have prime-time seating in the high rise front stretch grandstands to catch all the action.

Driver Joey Saldana and the Motter Equipment Fatheadz Eyewear 71M team know that it is going to be important to start near the front of the field for this event as it is traditionally hard to pass on this third mile track. But a start in the front doesn’t give you ‘clean air’ for long because the leaders close on the back of the pack quickly.

“A lot of what happens at this track is really just the luck of the pill draw for qualifying position,” explained 71M team owner Dan Motter. “Joey drives as hard as anybody out there and he is also a smart driver who stays out of trouble. This track is a grueling test of standing on the throttle but trying to stay on all four wheels in the middle of a lot of traffic but there is an advantage to qualifying up front.”

Saldana did not have the luck of the draw in two previous events in Stockton and Chico.
He and crew chief Davey Whitworth are using that as a learning experience to prepare for the Merced track, which is similar. After the conclusion of the Chico event, the two spent a lot of time analyzing each change they made on the car and the result of the change. In talking through the cause and effect, they feel they have gained significant ground for Friday’s tune-up.

The Motter Motorsports team, newly formed this season, currently resides in third place in World of Outlaws point standings with 10 races in the record books. There are over 90 events this season. A lot of racing left before the champion is crowned.

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