BOBBY LABONTE (No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge Charger)
COMMENT ON DRIVING THE 43 DODGE:
“Obviously that’s a number that’s got a lot of history behind it. To be a part of it is great. It looks great driving it. It looks great being there. It’d look a lot better in victory lane. That will mean a whole lot more. If we can go out there and be competitive with it and make sure Richard is proud of it, then I think that will be great.”
IS THERE PRESSURE DRIVING THE 43?
“I think we can all say that car and that team and that number has set a lot of records and what not, but I think you’ve got to be productive today and not live off what you’ve done in the past. I feel like we’ve got a neat program. We’ve got the number, the car, the owners, the name. I think you have to produce today, too. Hopefully when we do produce, that will make the history even cooler. It’s an awesome opportunity to be able to drive it before you even hit the racetrack, but now let’s hit the racetrack and run with it. If you can produce good things with it, it’ll make it a whole lot better.”
COMMENT ON PUTTING THE TEAM PERSONNEL TOGETHER:
“It’s a neat opportunity. All the Pettys do is race. There are no dealerships, no this or that. They race. With that being said, when they got Robbie and me and Todd that just added to Petty Enterprises. They had good people. Greg Steadman was crew chief last year and he’s going to be overseeing some things. It’s a great opportunity for him. For us to get together and try to make this thing work, it’s probably one of those deals that wouldn’t happen next year or last year. It just turned out that everyone was available at the right time.”
DO YOU FEEL PRESSURE OF BEING THE GUY TO BRING PETTY ENTERPRISES BACK:
“I’m not the great whatever. That’s not me. We have to do it all together. If this car runs great, it ain’t because of me or Todd or Robbie. It’s all together. I don’t feel added pressure. When I quit driving it one day I want to see 25 guys in line wanting to drive it because it must be a great car. You want people to want to drive the car. That would be better than any money you could get to have that feeling.”
HAS THE BUDGET BEEN INCREASED TO MAKE IT A WINNING CAR?
“The budget might have been decreased. I think before I said yes, I went there, and they’ve got stuff to work with. They might not have the luxury stuff like some teams, but as far as having the stuff to work with, they’ve got it. That’s not a problem. A lot of the luxuries aren’t there that some of the guys have built into their organizations because they’ve got so many millions to spend, but I think as far as racing goes, they worry about racing. They don’t have to worry about anything else. I think the stuff that will make us race faster is there or is available to get.”
DID ADDING LOOMIS, LABONTE AND PARROTT OPEN THE DOOR FOR OTHER NEW EMPLOYEES AT PETTY ENTERPRISES?
“I had talked to Kyle prior to him hiring Robbie and when Robbie came on board then they came back to me. I see depth here now. Somebody had to make that decision to get Robbie. That was the first domino and it led to me and Todd down the road. We’ve got a new pit crew coach that we probably wouldn’t have got and some other interest has been sparked. One guy left the week after I came there, too, so it hasn’t been 50-50, but some come and some go. Everybody wants to live in Charlotte, so that’s a little difficult there, but it was a bonus to me.”
COMMENT ON PRESEASON TESTING:
“Todd was sick when we came to Daytona to test. He was sick, so we did that test without him. Robbie and Greg were here and it was OK. Kyle came the next week and he got to try some stuff we didn’t get to try. Kyle was better than we were, so we implemented all that in our car. The Las Vegas test, we weren’t as happy as we wanted to be with that car, so they went back and cut it up. It’s coming back more to the tune of what we needed. We went to Kentucky to test and Texas to tire test. Kentucky, I don’t know what you can learn there. At Texas, you’ve got a lot of grip but you don’t get to try a lot of things you want to try. We went to Vegas and it was a lot worse because the track was flatter. We learned we couldn’t learn anything here and we needed to get better here, so who cares about there. The guys in the fab shop worked themselves silly to put things together. To come back and cut a car apart and put it back together, it didn’t seem like a problem. They were willing to do it, so whether we run good or bad, that enthusiasm excites me. We’ve got some new direction. We’ll find out if we screw up here or there and we’ll make it better or we’ll be good.”
WHAT’S A REALISTIC GOAL FOR SPEEDWEEKS?
“Well, I’m not going to say anything better than last year because I was dead last last year. It’d be great to have a top 10. If we could finish the race and finish in the top 10 that would be awesome. I’m not trying to blow smoke. We might not be as good as we think we are, but our enthusiasm is there. I think we’ve got a good car we can race with. Right now, it would be great to stay out of trouble and finish in the top 10. That would be confidence for the team.”
WHAT WOULD BE A SUCCESSFUL SEASON?
“It would be neat to make The Chase and win a race. You’re taking a guy that finished 20 something in points and a team that finished 20 something in points. Realistically to get in the top 10 is going to take a lot of work, there’s no doubt about it. We know we’ve got that in front of us. All I can say is we’re going to give it our best shot.”
