Sharpie 500 - Bobby Labonte Notes

LABONTE SAYS BRISTOL'S NIGHT RACE IS EXCITING FOR BOTH THE DRIVERS AND THE FANS

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (August 19, 2003) - One of the hardest tickets to get in all of sports is a seat at the Bristol Motor Speedway for this weekend's Sharpie 500. With 36-degree banking on a half-mile track and lap times just under 20-seconds, the excitement is never ending and the tempers usually get short over the course of 500-miles.

As Bobby Labonte looks forward to this weekend's event, he admits that it can be some of the most intense racing he will endure all season. Given the fact that you will have 42 other cars racing around a half-mile track, something is bound to happen and when it does, sparks and tempers will fly.

"While I really love the place," admitted Labonte, "I have been on the bad end of the stick as well at Bristol. Things happen so fast and it's hard to get through a wreck when it happens right in front of you. It never hurts to have a little luck when you're racing there as well. You try to be patient and stay calm in the car, but sometimes your emotions can get the best of you when you are beating and banging on your neighbors out there for 500-laps."

Labonte knows what he speaks of as he has been involved in his share of accidents and skirmishes at Bristol and knows how easy it is to point the finger at someone else. He also knows how easy it can be to want to get back on the track and seek a little revenge.

"I guess that's just a human emotion we all have," says Labonte. "None of us would ever go after someone intentionally, but lets just say we might not back off in a corner like we would have before. At a place like Bristol, everything just seems to be exaggerated there. It's such a tight place that everyone is hitting each other and bouncing off one another every lap. I guess it would be like covering yourself in honey and jumping into a bee hive."

Over the years, Labonte has watched the transformation take place at Bristol from a mere 35,000-seat facility into the 147,000 seats they have now. He also knows why it has happened and wished there were more tracks like Bristol being built.

"We need more tracks like Bristol," Labonte said. "When you first walk into the track under the grandstands in turn three and look around, that's a pretty awesome sight. It's just amazing that we have that many seats there and the fact that all those fans are there to watch us race is pretty cool. There's not a bad seat in the place, they sell out all the time and the fans just love it. From what I hear, it's probably one of the hardest tickets to get in all of sports and I can understand why. It's some of the best racing we have all year."

"Not one lap goes by that is boring at this place," continued Labonte. "With the amount of banking here, even if a wreck happens up high, it eventually has to come to the bottom and you just hope your clear of it when it does. I have seen lot of ups and downs at this place and as fast as everything happens, it puts a major strain on everyone's emotions. But I wouldn't trade racing there for anything."

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