By Dick Mittman
allstate400atthebrickyard.com

Tuesday, July 6, 2004

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Between 1997 and 2000, Bobby Labonte could do no wrong in the Brickyard 400. He won in 2000, finished second twice and third once.

Then his Brickyard performance went downhill. He has finished 15th, 11th and 22nd in the last three NASCAR races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

That's why Labonte and his Joe Gibbs Racing team had a pair of Interstate Batteries/Wellbutrin XL-sponsored Chevrolets at the track July 6. Labonte, along with the Petty Enterprises duo of Jeff Green and Kyle Petty, were the first of many NASCAR drivers to test this month prior to the 11th Brickyard 400 on Sunday, Aug. 8.

Labonte was fastest Tuesday at 176.013 mph, followed by Green at 175.547 and Petty at 174.123. The private test concludes July 7.

"We've had four years of a good span there," Labonte said of his strong run of Brickyard success. "We just need to get back there.

"The last three years we've had some good points in the race, but we've always got caught doing something different. It just goes to show how tough the competition is. You have to be just right on.

"You can have a misfortune and come out with a fortune at the end of the race in your favor. It didn't happen all the time. So I think we've got to get back on our performance-wise, then we can play our luck a little better. But we need to be in a better position to do that. Performance-wise, we kind of missed the boat the past two or three years."

2000 NASCAR champion Labonte said that the Brickyard 400 is a huge event on the NEXTEL Cup schedule, and that's why the team is trying to test some things that can't be learned on race weekend. Labonte tested one car Tuesday that he has used during the season, while the other car has different design features "and other stuff," he said.

Handling will be the key in the race, Labonte said, and being able to pick up a half-tenth here and there on the track can make the difference between challenging for victory and being a middle-of-the-pack finisher.

This is the first season where only the top 10 in the standings plus any others within 400 points after 26 races will be able to compete for championship in the final 10-race shootout. The Brickyard 400 is the 21st race of the 36-race season and a pivotal event in the lead-in to the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup.

"We're just fighting right now to stay in there," said Labonte, who is sixth in the standings, 381 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson. "We've got to work hard to stay there.

"We're not happy because we haven't won a race yet. We're not happy because we haven't had as many top fives as some of those guys have."

Labonte's latest of 21 victories came last Nov. 16 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in the 2003 season finale.

So far this season, Labonte said he hasn't seen any difference in the driving styles, with drivers taking more risks in an attempt to make the cut for the championship chase. But he thinks this could change as the number of races dwindles before the chase begins.

"We're pretty wide open," he said. "How much more can you go?

"The guys trying to get in the top 10 probably will take a few more chances. What do they have to lose? The guys who are in the top 10, they don't want to get out of there. They might not see where they have a chance to improve themselves."

It was 20 years ago, in 1984, that Labonte came to NASCAR racing as a mechanic and "gofer" for his brother Terry and the Hagan racing team. Today, Bobby Labonte is one of the superstars of the sport, winning 21 races, the 2000 Winston Cup championship and $37,942,000 in purses over 383 starts heading into the Tropicana 400 on July 11 at Chicagoland Speedway.

"What did I do?" he mused about 1984. "I did a little bit of everything; everything nobody else didn't want to do - washing vans, going and getting poker money for hours at lunchtime, dollar bills, sweep the floor, mop the floor. Dirtiest jobs you could find in the shop, I was willing. That was my college education."

He called it a stepping stone. Next he owned his own car in NASCAR Busch Series racing, doing both the mechanical work and driving. Eventually, he got hired to drive in Winston Cup and slowly moved up the ranks until he joined top-flight Joe Gibbs Racing in 1995.

"It's a pretty neat progression," he said. "Different people take different routes, but I wouldn't change the way I did it. That was just my style, I guess."

One of the big stories flashing out of the NASCAR garages in the past couple weeks is that Terry Labonte may retire at the end of the season. He has won 22 races and two championships in 798 races since 1978.

Bobby Labonte admitted he had talked to his brother "a long time ago," and the news of impending talks between Terry and Hendrick Motorsports this month about Terry's future wasn't supposed to be leaked.

"They'll come up with a decision at that point in time whether continuation is there or if he goes somewhere else or he doesn't do anything at all," Bobby Labonte said.

"It was supposed to be handled really clean and neat, but unfortunately someone spoke out of turn, you know, how things were supposed to happen. Anyway, he's going to look at everything. He doesn't want to quit driving."

But if he does, will Bobby miss him in the garages and on the track?

"Oh, yeah," he said. "He used to cook dinner for me sometimes when my wife didn't show up. Yeah, of course. I've always bounced stuff off him for several years." ***

Brickyard 400 tickets: Tickets for the 11th annual Brickyard 400 on Aug. 8, 2004, are on sale.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com or by calling the IMS ticket office at (317) 492-6700 or (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area. Parking and camping information also can be obtained through the ticket office.

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