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NASCAR WCUP: Bobby Labonte picks up speed in qualifying at Pocono

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
June 16, 2001

BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:

(ON PICKING UP A HALF SECOND FROM PRACTICE) "It must have been something other than the driver's compartment. The guys did a good job tuning the motor up. We didn't tune on it too much this morning, but we did this afternoon before qualifying.

"Jimmy [Makar] and I talked about a few things to try to make it a little bit better and took a gamble at it. Hopefully it was the right gamble. "We made a couple decisions to try a few things on the chassis. Everything seemed to work out better. The car felt a lot better [in qualifying] than when we made our mock qualifying run. I just have to put a lot of the credit there. It was a good team effort today. We're just trying to get things right for Sunday."

(IS THERE A PARTICULAR TURN AT POCONO THAT IS THE TOUGHEST?) "Yep. One, two and three."

Text provided by Al Larsen

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