NASCAR Newsmaker: Bobby Labonte

Labonte talked to the media during a break about his move from Joe Gibbs Racing and what he expects from the Pettys. Here are excerpts of that interview:

Question: How exciting is it to start the season with a new team and new car?

Question: What does it mean for a veteran like you to be in the No. 43?

Labonte: I think it will hit me probably when we get down here next month. I mean, obviously, we tested in Kentucky last month and we didn't have nothing on the car. I think we got No. 43 on the car this week, and we'll have it when we come back. It's exciting. It means a lot. It's quite an honor and we look forward to doing well in it and making sure we get back to victory lane. It's just going to be a huge deal. There have only been a few cars like that, that has been around for that many years and has that tradition behind it, and driving one of them is an awesome feeling.

Question: When you signed with the Pettys, you said there were signs that convinced you to move to that team. What were they?

Labonte: I was in my office one day at my shop and I went down the hallway to the fax machine and there was a STP sticker laying there, I don't know where it came from, but it was just laying there. You know what I mean? I know that sounds kind of corny but that happened. I looked at my dad and I said, "What does this mean? Who put this here?' You know what I mean? Honestly, I think it was a move I felt like in my heart that if I had to say, "Well, if I had to drive for somebody else, who would it be for?' And at this point in my career and this point in my life with my family, and just the way that the situation was, it might not have been something that would have happened five or 10 years ago, but at this point in time, I looked at it as a great opportunity, not just an option.

Because I think it's real important that you're doing the right thing from the time you start your career to the time you end your career. I think this is a great opportunity for me to drive for a great family and hopefully get the No. 43 car back into Victory Lane.

Question: You've talked in the past about careers running in cycles. But are there certain things a driver or team can do to rebound from the kind of year you had in 2005?

Labonte: I think it's a combination of things. I think that you gotta be with a team that's hungry, that's on the edge of not being inside the box. ... And confidence plays a big role as far as the driver goes. ... I think you have to have it all together and that's what you try to do, you try to find that combination -- that chemistry -- to make a driver-crew chief team. And they have to [know] what's taking place today and not try to race like three years ago and expect to win. You gotta be up-to-date on the competitiveness of the sport.

You know, when you struggle some, somewhat like we have, like I have, then you question yourself. You're like, 'Man'. And then you start trying harder or trying different things and that's not really working, and chances are you tried too hard and then you tried to find the right success and the right team. And it's hard to stay on top of it because things change so fast. ... You gotta work real hard. You can't just go somewhere and expect to just be better all of a sudden. It's just not gonna be easy.

Question: What are the realistic expectations for you and Petty Enterprises this year?

Labonte: They got great personnel. Everything you need to go racing. No matter where you go, you gotta work real hard at it. And that's what we're gonna do is work real hard. There are a lot of great people who were at Petty Enterprises prior to me going. And when Robbie (Loomis) came, I think that brought a different style and a personality. You know when he left he, he's matured a lot since then, and I think that the group and the organization is as hungry as everyone else out there. Everyone is hungry. Don't get me wrong. We're not the only ones who are hungry and ambitious. But I feel like we got things in the right place. We haven't made a lap under NASCAR's testing policy other than Kentucky, so you know what we do here isn't going to really be a judge of what kind of car we have. If the first lap isn't the fastest, or in the first day you're not the fastest, then it's not the end of the world. But I think that everybody thinks positively, and we know that we got a lot of hard work in front of us. But we know that we're all excited and think that we can all go out there and do really well. There's not an ounce of, 'oh God, this is gonna be a struggle," because we don't think that. We're positive about that and feel like we got great race cars. We've been able to see them and touch them and know what they are. We talk to people. I think that we got a great positive outlook and just want to get started.

Question: You said you and Kyle Petty share some of the same interests and traits. What are they?

Labonte: We both shop at the same grocery store. That's just one of them I guess. It's the first thing that came to my mind. He eats like the same stuff that I do. It's kind of like, 'really you do?' He runs. I run a little bit. I don't run like he does. He's got longer legs. He can run longer.

Question: How has the sport changed in the last five years, and do you ever stop learning inside the car?

Labonte: I think each year it seems like you run a 500-mile race. Years ago, you wouldn't run every lap like qualifying, and I guess the biggest thing I notice is that over the years it becomes more like every lap is like qualifying. I think that just happens because different drivers come in and try something different and all of a sudden everybody's faster. We always used to go out there and run our pace for 500 miles and push if we had to. And now you have to push all the time. That's one of the biggest things you see different. And obviously, with multi-car teams, you have information flowing back and forth. So if you see one team running good, chances are that his teammate is going to as well. And now you gotta do everything right. The cars are so close, a 10th of a second could get you 10 spots (in qualifying). It's just a lot more detail oriented on the racetrack. You really have to change your line and find something better. You have to take it from the board to the extreme more than you use to. It's kind of a progression: Every year gets a little more and a littler bit more. And it's not gonna regress.