ARCHDALE, NC (October 7, 2008)- Earl Pearson Jr. and the Bobby Labonte Racing Team competed at the final two events of the 2008 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series in the state of Georgia. On Friday night Earl competed at Rome Speedway in Rome Georgia and set the 4th fastest time during qualifying out of the 55 cars entered. Earl would win his heat race and start third in the 50-lap feature event. Earl would battle Chris Madden early for the lead and eventually took the lead on lap eight and held off challenges from several drivers and led the final 42 laps to win his 4th feature event on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series in 2008. Earl’s victory was very satisfying with the numerous top national touring drivers in the field that he would beat and put an exclamation point on his 5th consecutive national touring series championship in the final events of the 2008 season.

On Saturday night Earl would compete in the final Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event in 2008 at Dixie Speedway in Woodstock Georgia. Earl would show the way in qualifying setting a new track record at 13.893 to set the fastest lap out of the 46 drivers entered. Earl would have high hopes to finish the season with back to back wins but suffered bad luck in his heat race breaking a left front upper a-arm and would have to use a series provisional starting position for the 50-lap feature event. Earl would battle throughout the feature and advanced into the top 15 and finished 12th in the final feature event of the 2008 season for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. Earl’s stats for the 2008 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series include a tie for the most wins on the series with 4 wins, 21 top 5 finishes, 28 top 10 finishes and 3 Fast Time awards in 40 sanctioned events in 2008. Earl also won the PBM/Erson Cams Hard Charger Points Category in 2008 and will receive a special award for that along with being crowned the 2008 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Champion on November 7th at the series year-end banquet. To see all the results and information about the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series visit their website at www.lucasdirt.com.

“To win our 4th consecutive Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Championship and our 5th national touring series championship in a row is really amazing to me with the level of competition there is in dirt late model racing. This championship means a lot after all we went through early in the year with my injuries I suffered in a couple of wrecks. I can’t say enough about my car owner Bobby Labonte and my crew for sticking with me and helping me through my injuries early this year and keeping focused even though we got behind in the points early. Then to win in the next to last race on the series at Rome was really cool and to beat such a strong field of drivers makes it even more satisfying for our team. I have to thank my crew Randal Edwards, Matt Langston, Keith Edwards and Devine Ellis for giving me well prepared cars every time we hit the track. These guys are professionals and really good at their individual duties they each have which makes my job a lot easier to focus on driving. It has been a great year and we had a lot of fun racing with Hartman, Casebolt and all the guys that followed the series. Ritchie Lewis and the entire Lucas Oil staff did a great job with the series this year and everyone was a pleasure to work with. I have to thank all my sponsors, especially LifeLong Locks, Lucas Oil, Larry Wallace Engines, Mopar, Allstar Performance, Sunoco Race Fuels, Mastersbilt Race Cars and all my product sponsors for their support this year. It was a great year again and we had fun”, stated Earl

Earl and the Bobby Labonte Racing Team would like to thank all their sponsors in 2008 for their support including LifeLong Locks, Lucas Oil, Mastersbilt Race Cars, Larry Wallace Engines, Mopar, Sunoco Race Fuels, Allstar Performance, Tiger Rear End, BERT, Butlerbuilt, Hyperco, SHY, Wilwood, Woodward, TWM, Dyers Top Rods, Weld, Hoosier Tire, PRC, Wrisco, Sparco, Bell, Mechanix Wear, Oakley, Cheerios, Coke, Dunn-Benson Racing Supply, ASI Racewear, WRT Web Designs, The Decal Source, Rick Schwallie Photography and WD Enterprises.

For more information about LifeLong Locks and the strongest locks on the market today, visit www.lifelonglocks.com. For more information about Earl Pearson Jr. and the Bobby Labonte Racing Team visit their official website at www.bobbylabontemotorsports.com.

Earl’s Remaining 2008 Schedule:

October 17-18th – DTWC- KC Raceway, Chillicothe, OH
Oct 31-Nov 1- WoO Finals- Lowes Dirt Track, Concord, NC