NASCAR WCUP: Bobby Labonte Notes and Quotes, Post Race, Phoenix
6 November 2000
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
BOBBY LABONTE, NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES PONTIAC GRAND PRIX:
(ON HIS RUN) "It was pretty good. Our Interstate Batteries Pontiac was decent all day long. We probably didn't have the best car all day, that's for sure. But at times we could have gotten a little bit better and it seemed like we just kept adjusting on it. It would get a little bit worse one way or the other way, tight or loose. It stayed about consistent with those guys on long runs - just a little bit off of them. But overall, that last caution that we had we got two tires and were able to finish fifth. That was better than we were before that. We were seventh."
(WAS HE AWARE OF WHERE DALE EARNHARDT AND JEFF BURTON WERE DURING THE RACE?) "It was pretty obvious. You could see where they were at - one of them in front of you, one of them behind you, both of them in front of you and stuff like that. I saw where Jeff was all day. He was in front of me. Dale was behind me most of the day and in front of me a little bit. Then we got by him there on a pit stop and then he faded back there a little bit at the end. But we were pretty much aware of where everybody was. We were just still running our own race, trying to get that Interstate Batteries Pontiac a top five finish and we succeeded doing that. If we could have had a couple more laps we maybe could have finished a little bit better, but still we're happy with fifth."
(ON THE CHAMPIONSHIP) "We've still got two races left to go. Homestead is going to be a critical race for us just like Atlanta will be, no matter what. We've just got to go back down there and do the best we can. Hopefully we can finish really good and then we'll see where it goes.
"We're just excited that we're in the hunt. And trust me - 200 and whatever points ahead is a lot better than 200 and some odd points behind, so we're really excited about our chances right now. We look forward to going to each race. We'd love to go out and win both of them if we can, so we're looking forward to that. If not, we'll just finish the best we can.
"It's a lot of fun. I'm in a very good position. The guys that work on the car put me in this position. Last year we were 200 points behind, so I know how it is to try to catch up. It's hard to do. If we just do our job right then those guys will have a hard time catching up, also."
(ON HOMESTEAD) "I like it a lot. We finished second down there last year - Tony (Stewart) won the race, and we had a good test down there the other day. We're pretty happy about going back. We've got a good car that we're going back with, so we feel really good about going into a racetrack like that."
Text provided by Al Larsen
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