Q:
ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO FINISHING UP YOUR CAREER THIS SEASON?
TERRY LABONTE
"Yes, I am. Someone asked me the other day if it was kind of sad and I guess it could be a little sad if you think about it. It is different knowing that this is my last year, but I am fine with it. So it might be kind of sad for a few minutes but then after that, it isn't. I had actually set this year in my mind a while ago and said to myself that I wasn't going to race beyond this year. And this is this year."
Q:
IF YOU THOUGHT IF THIS TEAM COULD BE IN THE CHASE, WOULD THAT CHANGE YOUR MIND?
TERRY LABONTE
"That is so tough to do. Yes, it would probably change something. But that is hard to get in the top-10, look at the guys that missed it last season. That just shows you how tough it is out there. If I thought I had a 90% chance of being in the top-10, I would run all the races, you know what I mean. The commitment on the drivers is the easy part. It is getting all the right people in place and getting them working well together. I have run a long time, won a couple of championships so this is my final year. My final race will be at Texas Motor Speedway in November and I am not coming back and running trucks or anything like that."
Q:
HOW WELL DO YOU THINK THIS RELATIONSHIP WITH YOU AND TONY (RAINES) IS GOING TO WORK?
TERRY LABONTE
"I think it is a great opportunity for Tony. I met Tony several years ago when I raced against in him the ASA, the only one I ever ran. It was in Topeka, Kansas. I finished second and he won it. I have always thought Tony did an awful lot with some teams that didn't have so much to work with. I think it is a great opportunity for him."
Q:
WHERE DO YOU WANT TO BE WITH ABOUT 10 LAPS TO GO IN THE 500 NEXT WEEK?
TERRY LABONTE
" You always want to be first or second or third if your car is good enough. You never know how it is going to play out with caution flags, strategy and tires, but if your car handles good and is strong enough, you want to definitely be up in the top-five. This place has a tendency on long runs to spread the cars out more than Talladega."
Q:
HOW IS THE CREW WORKING TOGETHER?
TERRY LABONTE
"I think they did good at the test. They seem to be working together well. That is a big part of it, I think they have a lot of good people. That is the hard part of putting together a new team. Everyone is experienced but they have never worked together as a team. Everybody is really quiet on the team, I mean everybody. I thought I was quiet, I am quiet, but around the team, they are quieter than I. Philippe (Lopez, crew chief) hired everybody; you can really see that in the whole group of people. He has no loudmouths, no one that is not going to fit it. It looks he did a good job of picking people who will fit in together. Not to say they will always be in agreement about everything, but everyone is there for the team and not for themselves."
