WSET.com - ABC13NASCAR Preview: Labonte and Elliot

With sponsorship money tightening up, NASCAR's latest trend is downsizing. Roush-Fenway and Richard Childress have both trimmed back to three full-time Cup teams this season. That could be welcome news for single-car teams like veteran Bobby Labonte. He returns behind the wheel of the 47 Toyota with new crew chief Todd Berrier.  The 2000 Cup champion finished fourth in last year's Daytona 500 and feels his young team is only getting better."It's a great opportunity.  I mean I know that this is a great opportunity for all the guys that work at the shop.  It's a smaller team, obviously, in the world of the big teams right now especially.  But you know it's gonna be a successful story at the end of the day," Labonte said.

That fourth at Daytona was Labonte's only top 5 of the season.  The team had lots of growing pains with NINE finishes of 30th or worse, winding up 29th in points.

JTG Daughtery Co-Owner Brad Daugherty said, "We've got to run better than we did last year.  I was really disappointed the way we ran last year almost embarrassed to a point because we were better than that.  And we've got a lot to prove."

Veteran driver Bill Elliott has nothing to prove, but he still loves to race.  He's agreed to a special one-race deal to help Walmart celebrate its 50th anniversary.  Elliott will drive the number 50 Walmart Chevy at Daytona in July. "I think surprised is an understatement, more like I think they had to, I was, I guess they should have asked me if I was sitting down, if not I was probably laying in the floor.  It's just incredible."

The Coke Zero 400 is Saturday night, July 7th at Daytona.