LOUDON, N.H. -- Bobby Labonte's red and white race car zoomed around New Hampshire Motor Speedway to secure a starting spot in Sunday's race. Then it was off to a dinner to try and raise enough money to complete it.

Labonte, in the second event of a seven-race deal with TRG Motorsports, qualified a stunning eighth Friday in a vehicle with a blank hood. He and owner Kevin Buckler are still trying to cobble together enough sponsorship so the No. 71 car won't have to bow out of the Sylvania 300 early.

"I hope we get to race," Labonte said. "We're still lacking a little bit to race. ... Everybody's worked real hard to make this deal happen. We're still looking for a little bit to race on Sunday. So hopefully, maybe this will seal the deal for us."

Certainly, it won't hurt. Behind the wheel of a car that's outside the top 35 in owner points, the 2000 series champion unleashed a lap of 131.847 mph that was a little more than three tenths of a second slower than Juan Montoya's track record pole run. It was Labonte's first top-10 qualifying effort of the year, and his best starting spot since a 12th-place effort in a Hall of Fame Racing car at Talladega in April.

"I was freaking nervous, I can tell you that," Labonte said. "I have been, just because I haven't qualified good in so long. It's really cool to be able to put out a good lap. That's exciting for us."

Now it's a matter of pulling together enough financing to make it through Sunday. "We're working on it," Labonte said. Regardless of what happens between now and then, he said his No. 71 car would start the race. Whether it can get to the finish is the question.

"Hopefully we don't have to go to the first flag and do something crazy. Hopefully we can just race," Labonte said.

"We're just trying to run all 300 laps. We've got us a great starting spot. So hopefully we can really make that deal work for us. I'm really proud of all the guys, and I think we can [make it work]. It's always good to have enough [money] not to wear everybody out. Because we kind of wore people out this week with the pit crew guys and the motor deals."

It was another topsy-turvy situation in that kind of year for Labonte, who for sponsorship reasons was replaced in his regular Hall of Fame ride for seven races by part-time Nationwide Series driver Erik Darnell. That led to the stopgap deal with TRG, which began two weeks ago at Atlanta, where Labonte's 18th-place result was the organization's second-best of the season.

"[Friday] was just a good boost for me personally, because I thought I'd really forgot how to qualify," Labonte said. "[Crew chief] Slugger [Labbe] said, 'I thought you forgot,' and I kind of thought I did. I got a little better after [Friday]. A little confidence helps."