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Rockingham: Bobby Labonte prevew

Bobby Labonte Subway 400 Notes and Quotes HUNTERSVILLE, N.C., Wednesday, Feb 18, 2004 -- The following are Subway 400 pre-race notes and quotes for Bobby Labonte, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs ...

Published: Feb 19, 2004, 3:46 PM

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Bobby Labonte Subway 400 Notes and Quotes

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C., Wednesday, Feb 18, 2004 -- The following are Subway 400 pre-race notes and quotes for Bobby Labonte, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing.

SUBWAY 400 PRE-RACE NOTES:

*Labonte will attempt to start his 23rd race at North Carolina Speedway. He won the spring race in 2000 and won the pole for the fall race in 1997.

*Labonte has six top-five and 10 top-10 finishes at North Carolina Speedway.

*In 2003 at North Carolina Speedway, Labonte started 10th and finished 16th in the spring race and started 14th and finished eight in the fall race.

*The primary car for the Subway 400 is No. 71, the car that was used by Labonte at both Bristol races and both Dover races in 2003. Labonte drove the car to third-place finishes at Dover (spring) and Bristol (spring).

*The back-up car is No. 66, the car Labonte used at both Darlington races and both races at North Carolina Speedway. Labonte finished seventh in the fall Darlington race and eighth in the fall race at North Carolina Speedway.

*Labonte is 11th in points, coming off an 11th-place finish in the Daytona 500. The 11th-place finish in the Daytona 500 was his best since a sixth place finish in 2000.

SUBWAY 400 PRE-RACE QUOTE:

BOBBY LABONTE (No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet; 2000 NASCAR Champion):

"You've got to manage your tire wear over the course of the race. You've got to have good pit stops and be able to have a car that's handling well enough that you don't have to short pit. I think what happens a lot of time is that if you have to short pit and a caution comes out, you're two laps down. It's hard to make up. You've got to have a car that's able to go the distance on a fuel mileage run." (About finishing 11th at Daytona and being 11th in points): "It wasn't a win, but I hadn't finished the Daytona 500 in three years, so that was better than the past few years, so you can't complain too much. We came out of there 11th in points, which is better than 43rd, like we've been a couple a times." (About going to Rockingham only once this year): "I love racing there. It's tough that we're only racing there once. It's too bad, because it's kind of a bad schedule for them. The weather is never nice to them."

-jgr-

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