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NASCAR WCUP: Labonte survives another 'typical' Rockingham race

23 October 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

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

"This was typical Rockingham. You never know what is going to happen. But we were very fortunate. This Interstate Batteries Pontiac was about a seventh place car all day. We didn't really have the right set-up. At times we were a little better than that and at times we were a little worse than that.

"I guess we got a pop-rivet or something in the tire and the left rear tire was going down. At least we caught it. That is probably the first flat tire I've had probably in a year and a half or two years, and I was glad I still felt it because I just haven't had one in a while. But hey, that's the way it goes. It could have been a lot worse. There's nothing you can do about it except go on to the next one like we have been all year."

(IT LOOKED LIKE YOU MIGHT LOSE 50 POINTS OR SO TO DALE EARNHARDT TODAY, BUT THEN HE FADED AND YOU DODGED ANOTHER BULLET) "Well, but if we hadn't had that (flat tire) we would have picked up 50 points maybe, too, so we're just very fortunate that we caught everything. If that caution hadn't come out we might not have been quite so bad. But the cautions came out too much for us there for a while anyway. It's just one of those days here at Rockingham. It could happen to you or it could not happen to you. "It's just one of those deals. We're very fortunate that it is what it is and it's over now, so we'll go to the next one."

(ON THE TIRE CONSISTENCY) "We didn't change a whole lot and they changed some. You would feel a little different every time. I thought we had a pretty good handle on it yesterday afternoon, but I never really got it as good as I needed to."

Text Provided By Al Larsen

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