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ConAgra Foods Sponsors Bobby Labonte to Compete in Eight 2005 NASCAR Busch Races and Showcase Four Top Brands.


CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Labonte Begins Busch Series The NASCAR Busch Series is a stock car racing series owned and operated by NASCAR. It is NASCAR's "minor league" circuit (often compared to Triple-A baseball), and is a proving ground for drivers who wish to step up to the organization's "big league" circuit, the Nextel Cup.  Race Driving The Hunt's No. 19 Chevrolet on May 28

Bobby Labonte Robert Alan Labonte (born May 8, 1964) is an American race car driver and drives the #43 Cheerios Dodge Charger for the Petty Enterprises NASCAR Racing Team in the Nextel Cup Series and the #77 Dollar General Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Kevin Harvick Incorporated in the Busch Series. , the only driver to win NASCAR NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), organization that sanctions American stock-car races, est. 1948. It held its first race in Daytona Beach, Fla.  NEXTEL Cup The NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series is NASCAR's top racing series. It was formerly known as the Strictly Stock Series (1949), Grand National Series (1950-1971), and the Winston Cup Series (1972-2003).  and Busch Series titles, will compete in eight Busch Series races for Joe Gibbs Racing Joe Gibbs Racing (also known as JGR) is a group of NASCAR racing teams owned by Joe Gibbs, who first started racing on the NASCAR circuit in 1991. Headquartered in Huntersville, North Carolina, more notably near Charlotte, the team amassed three NEXTEL Cup Championships  in 2005. All eight races will be sponsored by brands of ConAgra Foods, Inc.

ConAgra Foods' Banquet(R), Eckrich(R), Hunt's(R) and Slim Jim(R) brands will each serve as the primary sponsor of the No. 19 Chevrolet for selected races this season. ConAgra Foods has been an associate sponsor on Labonte's No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet NEXTEL Cup Series car since 2003 and Slim Jim was a sponsor of Labonte's Busch Series team in the early 1990's.

"It's a pretty neat deal to team up with ConAgra Foods and race in the Busch Series again. ConAgra Foods has been great to work with over the years, and I've always enjoyed racing in the Busch Series," said Bobby Labonte, who will kick off the eight-race schedule by driving the No. 19 Hunt's Chevrolet in the CarQuest Auto Parts 300 on May 28 at Lowe's Motor Speedway Lowe's Motor Speedway (formerly Charlotte Motor Speedway) is a speedway in Concord, North Carolina, north of Charlotte. It features a 1.5 mile long quad-oval track that seats 167,000 people, with room for 50,000 more spectators in the infield.  in Concord, N.C.

"We're pleased to expand our racing relationship with Bobby, and excited to have additional involvement in the NASCAR Busch series," said Mike Hargrave, vice president, Sponsorship and Event Marketing, ConAgra Foods. "We look forward to Bobby having great success with the Banquet, Eckrich, Hunt's, and Slim Jim cars this racing season."

In addition to Charlotte, Labonte will compete at: Chicago, July 9 (Banquet); Brooklyn, Mich., Aug. 21 (Eckrich), Bristol, Aug. 26 (Hunt's), Richmond, Sept. 9 (Banquet); Kansas, Oct. 10 (Banquet), Texas, Nov. 6 (Slim Jim), and Phoenix, Nov. 12 (Slim Jim).

"It's a good mix of racetracks," said Labonte. "Bristol was where I got my first pole and my first win in the Busch Series. I was born in Texas, got my first NEXTEL Cup pole at Richmond and Banquet has sponsored the Cup race at Kansas for a few years now. So, there's a lot of history for me at these tracks."

Labonte has started 164 Busch Series races and scored nine wins and 11 Busch Poles. After not making any Busch Series starts from 2000-2003, Labonte drove in three races in 2004, two for Banquet and Joe Gibbs Racing (California Fall and Charlotte Fall) and one for Richard Childress Racing RCR Enterprises, LLC, doing business as Richard Childress Racing, is a NASCAR team fielding Chevrolets for Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, and Scott Wimmer in the NEXTEL Cup Series as well as the #2 BB&T Chevy for Clint Bowyer, the #21 AutoZone Chevy for Harvick  as part of the ESGR ESGR Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve  Program (Texas Spring). He finished in the top-15 in all three events. With eight races scheduled for 2005, this is the most Busch races Labonte will have entered in any one year since 1998.

Labonte/ConAgra Foods 2005 Busch Series Racing Schedule
Date    Event                   Track                         Sponsor
----------------------------------------------------------------------
May 28  Carquest Auto Parts 300 Lowe's Motor Speedway         Hunt's
----------------------------------------------------------------------
July 9  Chicagoland 300         Chicagoland Speedway          Banquet
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Aug. 21 GFS Marketplace 400     Michigan International        Eckrich
                                 Speedway
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Aug. 26 Food City 250           Bristol Motor Speedway        Hunt's
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sept. 9 Emerson Radio 250       Richmond International        Banquet
                                 Raceway
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Oct. 8  Kansas 300              Kansas Speedway               Banquet
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nov. 5  O'Reilly Challenge      Texas Motor Speedway          Slim Jim
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nov. 12 Phoenix 200             Phoenix International Raceway Slim Jim
----------------------------------------------------------------------


About Joe Gibbs Racing

Joe Gibbs Racing is one of the premier organizations in NASCAR, fielding three NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series teams for drivers Bobby Labonte (No. 18 - Interstate Batteries Chevrolet), Tony Stewart (No. 20 - The Home Depot Chevrolet) and Jason Leffler (No. 11 - FedEx Chevrolet), two NASCAR Busch Series teams for drivers J.J. Yeley (No. 18 - Vigoro/The Home Depot Chevrolet) and Denny Hamlin (No. 20 - Rockwell Automation Chevrolet) and a development program with drivers Aric Almirola and Chris Bristol.

Based in Huntersville, N.C., and owned by Joe Gibbs - a three-time Super Bowl-winning coach, member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and current coach of the Washington Redskins - the team has competed in NASCAR since 1992, winning two of the last five Cup Series championships and more than 40 NASCAR races, including the 1993 Daytona 500 and the 2000 Brickyard 400.

About ConAgra Foods

ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE NYSE

See: New York Stock Exchange
:CAG CAG 1 Chronic atrophic gastritis 2 Coronary angiography, see there ) is one of North America's largest packaged food companies, serving consumer grocery retailers, as well as restaurants and other foodservice establishments. Popular ConAgra Foods consumer brands include ACT II, Armour, Banquet, Blue Bonnet, Brown 'N Serve, Butterball, Chef Boyardee, Cook's, Crunch 'n Munch Crunch 'n Munch is a brand of ConAgra Foods consisting of caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts. Crunch 'n Munch currently comes in its original form of Buttery Toffee as well as the added varieties of Caramel and Almond Supreme. , DAVID David, in the Bible
David, d. c.970 B.C., king of ancient Israel (c.1010–970 B.C.), successor of Saul. The Book of First Samuel introduces him as the youngest of eight sons who is anointed king by Samuel to replace Saul, who had been deemed a failure.
, Decker, Eckrich, Egg Beaters, Fleischmann's, Gulden's, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt's, Kid Cuisine, Knott's Berry Farm Knott's Berry Farm is a brand name of two separate entities: a theme park in Buena Park, California, and a manufacturer of food specialty products (primarily jams and preserves) based in Placentia, California. , La Choy, Lamb Weston, Libby's, Lightlife, Louis Kemp, Lunch Makers, MaMa Rosa's, Manwich, Marie Callender's, Orville Redenbacher's, PAM, Parkay, Pemmican pemmican (pĕm`ĭkən), a travel food of the Native North American. Slices of lean venison or buffalo meat were sun dried, pounded to a paste, and packed with melted fat in rawhide bags. , Peter Pan, Reddi-wip, Rosarita, Ro*Tel, Slim Jim, Snack Pack, Swiss Miss, Van Camp's, Wesson, Wolf and many others. For more information, visit www.conagrafoods.com.
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Date:May 20, 2005
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