By: Zach Catanzareti, Staff Writer
When Alex Labbe kicked off his first full-time XFINITY Series campaign in 2018, everyone — including Labbe — circled the road courses as the places for potential.
And after a 19th-place finish at Watkins Glen International, the next road course came Saturday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, where Labbe would race for the first time in the series.
This one ended even better, as the Canadian rookie survived the melee to score his first-career top-10 finish driving the No. 36 Chevrolet for Mario Gosselin.
Despite his road course background, the ninth-place result didn’t come easy.
“We fought through a lot of adversity early on,” Labbe said. “I had a loose tie rod, brake issues. That got us pretty far back in the pack.”
An off-track moment also pushed the No. 36 back. From there, it was all about the comeback.
“I made a little mistake with 20 or 25 laps to go, I wheeled up a bit into Turn 9,” he said. “I wanted to get a little too much out of the car.
“We fought back through the field. It was just being patient and being smart, that’s the most important part. Getting the most out of every restart. There was a lot to gain there.”
Teammate Andy Lally, who made his first start of 2018 in the team’s No. 90, led the race for seven laps before getting spun in the final corner later in the event. The road course ringer managed 15th.
“You had to stay on track,” Labbe said. “As you saw, there were a couple guys who were fast but went off track. If you’re there at the end and you had the speed, the result should be pretty easy.”
His first top 10, the run was also just his third top-15 finish through 21 races in 2018. Labbe now sits 18th in points.
“I’m really happy for all my guys,” he concluded. “We fought back and got a solid top 10. A pretty solid day.”