NASCAR WCUP: T.Labonte/C.Atwood Quotes from Winston Cup Preview
11 January 2001
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
TERRY LABONTE (No. 5) Kellogg'sWhat is your outlook for this season?
We're looking forward to this season. We've got all the people back that we had a year ago. I think we only lost one person. We've added a few people, so we've tried to strengthen our team a little bit. We've got a new look for next year with our Sugar Frosted Flakes Tony the Tiger car. We haven't done any testing yet. We're going to go next week to Daytona. I think a year ago at this time, we had one car ready to go and I think we've got about 10 of them now. We're in much better shape than a year ago. That's going to be pretty important for us so we're looking forward to getting started.
The benefits or hassles of winter testing?
This is really our busiest time of the year during the wintertime. There's actually no testing at a NASCAR track until January. So, you're off a few weeks in December, but everybody gets ready for the new season. Everybody goes to Daytona and Talladega to test and get ready for the 500.
There's a good chance about 1/3 of the way through this season that Dale Earnhardt is going to break you record for the consecutive races started. Can you talk a little about how difficult a streak it is to maintain and will there be any upset or sadness to see that mark fall so quickly after you held it?
I had said all along that the streak that I had was because I'd been real lucky over the years and haven't been injured and haven't had to sit out any races. I've been with good teams all those years and got hurt at Daytona and had to miss a couple of races. The only thing that is disappointing about the whole thing is probably we didn't get to the right doctors. If we had gotten to the right doctors and got diagnosed with the actual problem, I wouldn't have had to miss any races. I can't think of any two people that I'd rather share a record with than Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. When I look at that, it's something that is proud to be mentioned in the same sentence with those two guys.
Terry, could you talk a little bit about what kind of changes you're going to have to make with your teams and your personal schedule to accommodate the expanded race schedule this year? Are you hiring any new people, new truck drivers or anything like that?
Not really. We've added a couple of people to try to strengthen our team. The schedule is two races longer, which adds a little bit but not a whole lot as far as a driver goes.
Terry, you've seen a lot of new cars over the years come in. What are your expectations of what Dodge can do and how soon can they be pretty good?
Well, one thing about it, NASCAR is not going to let anybody have an advantage or a disadvantage. The way the rules are today, everybody is pretty even and I don't expect Dodge to come in at a disadvantage or at an advantage. They'll have about fourth of the field, so I look for them to be right there with everybody else right from the start.
Terry, obviously, last year was a bit of an off year for you. Can you put your finger on what happened and why you slipped back a little bit and what changes have been made to try to improve that?
There are a lot of things why we didn't run as well as we should have. The setups are so important and so different I think last year than what we had run in the past. We had a new model with the new Monte Carlo last year that took us a little while to get figured out and of course Goodyear had new tires in a lot of places so your setups in the past really didn't work too well. That's going to be another thing next year with some different tires they've got coming. Our problem last year was we made some mistakes setup wise at a lot of the racetracks and it felt like when we came back in the second half we'd be a lot better. Then the first race in the second half of the year is when I got hurt and that set us back for five or six weeks. We finally got back on track late in the year, and made us feel good that we could run well. The key is just getting the cars right. We should be a lot better than a year ago and we know the mistakes we made.
Going back to the Bud Shootout, for the first time since 1997, you've had great success at that race and a lot of money and couple of wins, does this set you up a little better for Daytona, getting out there running in race traffic and being set up to go a little more field?
It doesn't hurt anything. A lot of times you see the guys run good at the Bud Shootout are the same guys who run good in the 500. You sit there and you do a lot of practicing for the Bud Shootout and then otherwise you wait until Monday to get out there and do some drafting with your 125 cars. This gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect for the rest of the week.
Terry, talk a little bit about the tire situation. There's some thought that the veteran drivers are going to have a leg up because of some of the unknowns. Do you feel that way?
I don't know if that will be the case of not. The tires are going to be different at some of the racetracks. They're probably going to have a harder compound and not as many different tires. It all depends on if you really get them figured out.
CASEY ATWOOD (No. 19) Dodge Dealers
The benefits or hassles of winter testing?
For me, winter testing is very important, starting with a new race team. I think the teams that test a lot over the winter are the ones that are a little better prepared when the season starts. I'm looking forward to a lot of winter testing and getting used to working with my new team.
Most people your age are wondering where they can go buy beer and here you are getting ready to run Winston Cup. Has it ever sunk in on you how you've come so far so quickly?
Not really. It seems like yesterday I was running go-carts or late models at home. I got the opportunity to get into a Busch car when I was 17 and from there it has just took off. I've only been racing Busch cars for two years and I'm getting the opportunity to go Winston Cup and I've been real lucky all along the way.
Casey, would you talk about how you made your own decision that you were ready to try Winston Cup and was there some factor there that you'd be crazy to turn this opportunity down?
Yes. I said all along I wasn't going to move to Winston Cup and that I was going to stay in Busch. Just gain experience and wait on the right opportunity, and this was the right opportunity for me. Nobody in their right mind would pass it up to work with Ray Evernham and what he's done with Jeff Gordon with the 47 wins and three Winston Cup championships. He was the right person for me to move up with, and if it had been anybody else, I would have stayed in Busch.
Before you made your first start last year, you admitted you were a little nervous and felt the pressure and now you're approaching your first season in the Daytona 500. Are you feeling a little nerves and pressure now being so young?
I won't ever be as nervous as I was that first Winston Cup start again. We weren't really that fast and there was a chance we wouldn't make the race. That was about as nervous as I've ever been. It got easier every race.
You've got a guy standing in the back of the room who has had a lot of success with Ray, what have you seen with working with Ray in a short period of time to where he's able to work with a young driver and bring them along and mold them and help them get adjusted to this sport?
When him and Jeff started out, they were both young. Ray learned a lot and is just incredible what he knows and what he can teach a young driver. He's just real patient
with me and makes good calls and adjustments. Everything he says, I try to soak up and learn as much as I can from him.
Text Provided By Marie Mason
Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos
and art, visit
The Racing
Photo Museum and the
Visions
of Speed Art Gallery.