TOYOTA NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) Bobby Labonte — Notes & Quotes Daytona Media Day – February 16, 2012
BOBBY LABONTE, No. 47 Kroger Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing How have things been progressing at the race shop? “Those guys have done a lot of work in the off-season. I think September 15 — there wasn’t anything in the race shop. They built jigs, they built cars, they built rooms — from shock rooms to electrical rooms to an engineering office. A lot of work has happened that wasn’t even included in building race cars. That being said, I think they bought some cars from MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) and Todd’s (Berrier, crew chief) made some — what he’s used to as improvements as far as what he’s accustomed to. Meaning it is what he’s been used to for all these years. They did a lot of work on that and basically just putting all the right people in the right places. The pit crew guys have been working real hard. I saw them yesterday working out when I got there. I got there just in time to see them get done. I hated that I couldn’t join in, but oh well. We get down to the race track and the finish or the result and how you run is the barometer, but you never know. Daytona is kind of its own thing and you get to Phoenix and Vegas and Fontana and Bristol and Martinsville — we’ll have a better feeling and understand more of what we’re up against — our weaknesses and our strengths.”
What is your opinion about social media? “I think it’s great and I know that we’re all involved in it — in one aspect or another. Whether we do the tweeting or get tweeted upon or whatever. The thing about it is that it can be a full time job if you make it. For me, I’ve got time to do it every now and then, but I don’t have time to do it 24 hours a day because I have other things I have to do. It’s hard sometimes to manage yourself — just like anything else. To not overdue it as well as be a part of it and do the right thing, but do those other 10 things you need to do too.”
What are your expectations for the season? “We want to win, but we also know that for us — we’ve got a long way to go. We started off a few months ago with nothing and worked real hard to get here. Our expectations are always going to be high no matter what, but at the same time the goal for our race team is to build it as we go and to hopefully at this time next year have two cars down here and not just one. There’s ambition, there’s goals, there’s a vision for that to happen. We have to go out week in and week out to be consistent and get better. If you have a problem, a win will fix anything. We just have to make sure that if we don’t have the best day that we don’t create more havoc for the day. I think with Todd (Berrier, crew chief) and everybody there — the expectation is going to be high. There’s no doubt about that, but in reality we know that we’re behind the eight ball to start the season off. That doesn’t mean that we can’t win. It just means that it will be more difficult.”
How much would it mean to win the Daytona 500? “It means a lot. I’ve been fortunate enough to win several races — 21 to be exact. I’ve won Darlington, Charlotte, the Brickyard and those are all big events. This one here has slipped by a few times. If you had a crystal ball and the vase and the genie came out and said, ‘You’re only going to win one more race in your career, what’s it going to be?’ This would be the one you want to win. You hope the genie doesn’t tell you that, but that would be the one you want to win. I think this would be huge in my career and what I’ve done to make this happen.”
