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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Two-time Cup champion Terry Labonte on Tuesday announced his schedule for his penultimate, 10-race schedule of Nextel Cup races.
Labonte announced in October he would wind down his 27-year career with 10-race schedules in 2005-2006.
"One of the things that excited me about moving to a part-time deal was being able to pick my favorite racetracks," Labonte said. "Now, having everything finalized and being able to look at the schedule on paper, I'm even more energized and ready to go.
"I've got a great balance. I'm visiting my ranch (in Texas), spending time with family, working with Justin (Labonte, his son) and racing. It's going to be a fun year."
Driving a Kellogg's-sponsored No. 44 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Labonte will kick off the first leg of his "Shifting Gears -- Lone Star Style" tour Feb. 27 at California Speedway.
Labonte, 48, will compete at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 3, followed by the first of two Texas Motor Speedway appearances April 17. He will also enter a pair of races -- the Nextel All-Star Challenge and the Memorial Day-weekend 600-miler -- at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May.
The June 12 event at Pocono Raceway will open the second half of the 10-race slate, prior to dates at Chicagoland Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway. Labonte's 2005 season finale will come Nov. 6 at Texas.
Huffman to drive D.W.'s truck
Robert Huffman Credit: Autostock
Darrell Waltrip Motorsports will field a second full-time Toyota Tundra in the Craftsman Truck Series, for five-time Dash champion Robert Huffman.
Huffman, who has been part of several NASCAR milestones for the Japanese manufacturer, will drive a No. 12 factory-backed Toyota engineered by crew chief Glenn Funderburk, teamed with 2004 Truck Series rookie of the year David Reutimann.
"I am excited about joining Darrell Waltrip Motorsports and having the chance to work with David Reutimann, too," Huffman said. "I got to know David last year when we were both rookies (and) I built a pretty good friendship with him.
"It's important to have two teams -- especially when you have two drivers like David and I that are willing to help each other. It's a good situation when you're not in competition with one another. Because of our backgrounds, we'll work really well together."
"For this second truck team to finally come about is going to be good for everyone involved," Reutimann said. "It's going to be good for Robert and good for me as well. Robert's a great guy and he does a really good job (and) I think we'll be able to learn from each other this year."
Huffman scored Toyota's first NASCAR race win, in the Dash Series and its first championship when he won the 2003 Dash title. He was part of Toyota's first front row sweep in the Truck Series when he and Reutimann accomplished the feat last March at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Fans get taste of new Daytona
For the first time in the history of preseason testing at Daytona International Speedway, fans will have access to the infield Wednesday during the second day of Nextel Cup testing.
FanFest, the second annual festival of evening events -- including music, pit stop demonstrations and driver appearances -- scheduled in conjunction with "Preseason Thunder" testing, will be held in Daytona's new infield "fan zone."
Beginning at 9 a.m. ET, fans can purchase $15 tickets for FanFest, enter the tunnel under Turn 4 and park in Turns 3 and 4 of the Daytona infield. Trams will transport them to the fan zone adjacent to the Nextel Cup garage.
Track testing is scheduled to end at 5 p.m., with FanFest running from then through 10 p.m.
The "Fan Forum" driver appearance schedule for Wednesday evening's first FanFest session:
• 6 p.m. -- Jeff Gordon, Michael Waltrip, Ricky Rudd, Kyle Busch, Mike Bliss and Boris Said
• 6:45 p.m. -- Elliott Sadler, Ryan Newman, Kerry Earnhardt, Carl Edwards and Jason Leffler
• 7:30 p.m. -- Kurt Busch, Jeremy Mayfield, Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears and Travis Kvapil
• 8:15 p.m. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Petty, Dale Jarrett and Greg Biffle.
FanFest sessions also are scheduled Saturday evening for the Craftsman Truck Series, Jan. 19 for the second Nextel Cup session and Jan. 22 for the Busch Series. Proceeds from the Preseason Thunder FanFest benefit Victory Junction Gang Camp and The Women's Auxiliary of Motorsports.
Throughout all test sessions, fans can watch the action free of charge from the Oldfield Grandstand, with access through the Daytona USA lobby.
Mears hungry
Casey Mears' new Dodge Charger Credit: Autostock
Casey Mears had a career year in Nextel Cup last season, but says there's better yet in his future. Mears was one of eight drivers at Daytona Tuesday running new Dodge Chargers.
That fueled his optimism.
"The name Charger just sounds hungry -- it sounds racy," Mears said. "Hopefully this will be the year of the Charger (and) I hope it's my year, too. We have high hopes this year, and I'm more confident than I've ever been, too, because I know more than I ever have and the team is really coming around.
"We've got a good team. Everybody gets along great and I think we've made some improvements on the car. I think we might have gained a little power, too. All the way around, I think we've got a better car, a better team and the whole organization is really stepping up (but) we've still got a lot of growth left."
Mears ended his second season in Cup with one top-five but nine top 10s. He has much higher goals in 2005.
"I think we've shown we can run up front (but) we've just got to see what we can do to make it a little more consistent," Mears said. "We've set some good goals for ourselves. We'd like to win a couple of races (because) it'd be great to be the team to get the first win for the new Charger."
Labonte announced in October he would wind down his 27-year career with 10-race schedules in 2005-2006.
"One of the things that excited me about moving to a part-time deal was being able to pick my favorite racetracks," Labonte said. "Now, having everything finalized and being able to look at the schedule on paper, I'm even more energized and ready to go.
"I've got a great balance. I'm visiting my ranch (in Texas), spending time with family, working with Justin (Labonte, his son) and racing. It's going to be a fun year."
Driving a Kellogg's-sponsored No. 44 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Labonte will kick off the first leg of his "Shifting Gears -- Lone Star Style" tour Feb. 27 at California Speedway.
Labonte, 48, will compete at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 3, followed by the first of two Texas Motor Speedway appearances April 17. He will also enter a pair of races -- the Nextel All-Star Challenge and the Memorial Day-weekend 600-miler -- at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May.
The June 12 event at Pocono Raceway will open the second half of the 10-race slate, prior to dates at Chicagoland Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway. Labonte's 2005 season finale will come Nov. 6 at Texas.
Huffman to drive D.W.'s truck
Robert Huffman Credit: Autostock
Darrell Waltrip Motorsports will field a second full-time Toyota Tundra in the Craftsman Truck Series, for five-time Dash champion Robert Huffman.
Huffman, who has been part of several NASCAR milestones for the Japanese manufacturer, will drive a No. 12 factory-backed Toyota engineered by crew chief Glenn Funderburk, teamed with 2004 Truck Series rookie of the year David Reutimann.
"I am excited about joining Darrell Waltrip Motorsports and having the chance to work with David Reutimann, too," Huffman said. "I got to know David last year when we were both rookies (and) I built a pretty good friendship with him.
"It's important to have two teams -- especially when you have two drivers like David and I that are willing to help each other. It's a good situation when you're not in competition with one another. Because of our backgrounds, we'll work really well together."
"For this second truck team to finally come about is going to be good for everyone involved," Reutimann said. "It's going to be good for Robert and good for me as well. Robert's a great guy and he does a really good job (and) I think we'll be able to learn from each other this year."
Huffman scored Toyota's first NASCAR race win, in the Dash Series and its first championship when he won the 2003 Dash title. He was part of Toyota's first front row sweep in the Truck Series when he and Reutimann accomplished the feat last March at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Fans get taste of new Daytona
For the first time in the history of preseason testing at Daytona International Speedway, fans will have access to the infield Wednesday during the second day of Nextel Cup testing.
FanFest, the second annual festival of evening events -- including music, pit stop demonstrations and driver appearances -- scheduled in conjunction with "Preseason Thunder" testing, will be held in Daytona's new infield "fan zone."
Beginning at 9 a.m. ET, fans can purchase $15 tickets for FanFest, enter the tunnel under Turn 4 and park in Turns 3 and 4 of the Daytona infield. Trams will transport them to the fan zone adjacent to the Nextel Cup garage.
Track testing is scheduled to end at 5 p.m., with FanFest running from then through 10 p.m.
The "Fan Forum" driver appearance schedule for Wednesday evening's first FanFest session:
• 6 p.m. -- Jeff Gordon, Michael Waltrip, Ricky Rudd, Kyle Busch, Mike Bliss and Boris Said
• 6:45 p.m. -- Elliott Sadler, Ryan Newman, Kerry Earnhardt, Carl Edwards and Jason Leffler
• 7:30 p.m. -- Kurt Busch, Jeremy Mayfield, Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears and Travis Kvapil
• 8:15 p.m. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Petty, Dale Jarrett and Greg Biffle.
FanFest sessions also are scheduled Saturday evening for the Craftsman Truck Series, Jan. 19 for the second Nextel Cup session and Jan. 22 for the Busch Series. Proceeds from the Preseason Thunder FanFest benefit Victory Junction Gang Camp and The Women's Auxiliary of Motorsports.
Throughout all test sessions, fans can watch the action free of charge from the Oldfield Grandstand, with access through the Daytona USA lobby.
Mears hungry
Casey Mears' new Dodge Charger Credit: Autostock
Casey Mears had a career year in Nextel Cup last season, but says there's better yet in his future. Mears was one of eight drivers at Daytona Tuesday running new Dodge Chargers.
That fueled his optimism.
"The name Charger just sounds hungry -- it sounds racy," Mears said. "Hopefully this will be the year of the Charger (and) I hope it's my year, too. We have high hopes this year, and I'm more confident than I've ever been, too, because I know more than I ever have and the team is really coming around.
"We've got a good team. Everybody gets along great and I think we've made some improvements on the car. I think we might have gained a little power, too. All the way around, I think we've got a better car, a better team and the whole organization is really stepping up (but) we've still got a lot of growth left."
Mears ended his second season in Cup with one top-five but nine top 10s. He has much higher goals in 2005.
"I think we've shown we can run up front (but) we've just got to see what we can do to make it a little more consistent," Mears said. "We've set some good goals for ourselves. We'd like to win a couple of races (because) it'd be great to be the team to get the first win for the new Charger."