Bobby Labonte Quotations

We are pretty good. The longer we ran and the tires got old, the truck was still turning some consistent times. I think we are going to race very well. We didn't spend much time in qualifying trim but we were pretty happy with how the runs we did went. I am looking forward to qualifying and then tomorrow's race.

We ran a lap in practice that I screwed up on but will still ran a decent lap,

The competition is a big part of it [racing] - the passion you have for the sport and the knowledge you have. You're not just going to wake up one day and say, " think I'll do something different." This is what I've done my whole life. My competitive nature and my passion for the sport, those are the things that keep you wanting to do better.

You learn how to be a better person not just on the [race] track, but all around.

If you're going to hope for a change, you'd better start to pray for a change. If you're just hoping, you ain't going anywhere.

I will always cherish the times at JGR. The only thing that I regret is that we didn't win more races and/or championships.

Signs were telling me that this is what I needed to do,

I'd like to think we have the best shot here, but I'm not going to say that.

If we start off and we're not in the top 10, we're going to be there before long,

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.

I actually haven't run good at Atlanta in the past three trips. So is this going to rejuvenate it? I hope it is, and I feel confident it will.

I think we think alike. We drive similar setups, I think. It feel like it's the coolest opportunity.

Last week was last week. I've got to remember that. What we did last week was good for our race team, but we've got to keep doing that. ...We went to Bristol with a fast enough car where we could have won. ...We think we can do more. We've just got to go prove it. You can't just sit here and talk about it.

I see a lot of good opportunities there. They're not lacking like some people might think.

People have asked me, 'Hey, what do you think about driving the 43 car?' I say it's great, and it's going to be even better when we land in Victory Lane one day. That's when it's going to really mean something.

It is exciting. It is real meaningful if you are in Victory Lane with it. That is what we want to do. There are only a handful of cars that have that kind of meaning to it. Richard's car is one of them. But it isn't going to mean nearly as much unless you do something with it.

Michigan has always been my favorite track. It just has everything going for it. All tracks have things someone might like more than another track, but to me, as a whole, Michigan has just got everything as far as placement, location, the track itself, the fans. A little bit of everything just seems like it goes a long way there. It's always a treat to go to Michigan, and when you run good there it helps. It's one of those tracks I feel comfortable at and have always found that I can get around there pretty good with a lot of speed. I'm looking forward to doing both the Cup and Busch events this weekend. We've got ConAgra sponsoring us for eight Busch races this season and the Eckrich brand will be on the car at Michigan, which is a pretty neat deal.

The paving job is really nice. You've still got your Charlotte characteristics to a certain extent, but it's a lot smoother. The car really sticks, so it is really fast.

We obviously came pretty close to a win the last time we were at Charlotte. The tracks changed a little bit and they've ground down some more parts of it. We'll see what happens when we get there. We tested there a couple of weeks ago, and we had a decent test. Right now we're just trying to finish out as strong as we can and try to get a win. It's been a frustrating season for sure, but we go into each weekend with a positive attitude and this week will be no different.

We've had some success at Fontana, but have never won there. It's a lot like Michigan, which is a track I really like, but the banking is a little less at California. I like the racetrack and, hopefully, we'll have some success there this weekend. We ran decent in February at Fontana, but we never really got a handle on the car. Hopefully we'll improve on that this week.

Tony Stewart has been a great teammate and friend for the past several years and is one of the best drivers that has come along in a long time. I wish him continued success and will always cherish our friendship.

We're going to be like the stock market. We're going to be up and down.

A top-five finish in the 150 is a good start. It gives us something to build on for Sunday.

It would mean a lot to me. Ten years from now you'd look back and the 43 car hadn't gone to victory lane. And then you were the one to take it to victory lane. It would be a cool thing.

Now it's a matter of getting everything together, and we'll do that. Whether it will take one week or 10 weeks, I don't know the answer. But I know the enthusiasm is there to do it, and our goal is to do it, and heart is in this.

A couple of guys got up in the fence, and then came down and clipped us.

It's one of those tracks I feel comfortable at and have always found that I can get around there pretty good. It's always a treat to go to Michigan. We're looking forward to running well on Saturday.

It's going to be a crapshoot at Talladega. It always is. It doesn't matter where you start at places like this and Daytona. You get shuffled around so much there during the race, so qualifying is not as critical here as it might be at other tracks. The important thing is to be there at the end and see what happens. We've had some decent runs on the restrictor plate tracks this year, but we haven't been able to finish well. We've run up front at times and the cars have been good. Hopefully, we can miss everything this weekend and get a good finish.

It kind on mimics what happened the last time it was paved. Obviously our cars are different now from what they were then. ...The track is real smooth. ...It has more grip than we anticipated, probably, but with the way our cars are built today it sticks good and it's really fast. But as far as the paving job, it's really nice.

It was hard to leave where I was. It was not the easiest decision. At this point in time, I really wasn't looking forward to a change. But I would not have made the change if I didn't feel like it was the right thing to do in my heart. I am really excited about this opportunity and very grateful for the opportunity I had the past 11 years.

In the earlier years at Gibbs Racing, there was only 18 people ... then 20 people, 30 people, 40 people, 50 people, ... When it adds up to 300 employees, it's a little more difficult.

The guys on the Interstate Batteries Chevrolet did a good job today. We just worked on race setup in the first practice, and then we worked n qualifying setup in the second practice, so I am pretty happy with our efforts.