Deja vu all over again

Bobby Labonte on back-to-back poles at Charlotte

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Posted: Friday May 28, 1999 03:16 PM

Bobby Labonte has three top ten finishes in 12 races at Charlotte. CNN/SI

Editor's note: Following Wednesday night's qualifying for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600, CNN/SI's Marty Snider spoke with pole-winner Bobby Labonte about the experience, and being one of the five drivers eligible for Sunday's $1 million No Bull bonus.

Marty Snider: Last Saturday night in Charlotte, Bobby Labonte was on the pole. Wednesday night this week, Bobby Labonte is on the pole. Didn't we just do this interview last week?

Bobby Labonte: I think we did, I think we did. Yeah, I tell you what, this is a different race car, of course. We tore the other one up in The Winston the other night. These guys did a great job. This same car we had in a couple of races earlier this year and it has run good every time we've had it out and today was no exception. Again, they [the crew] did a great job today calling the right shots during the daylight, kinda semi-daylight, kinda cloudy day setup for tonight's qualifying.

MS: Not only is being on the pole important, but just being in the race here is important because race setup here is so critical here because it starts in the day and ends at night. Talk about that.

BL: Well, it really does. [Thursday's] practice is going to be important and they have a night practice so we gotta get our car set up where we can adjust on it throughout the night without having to make too many changes. Hopefully they'll be fairly small changes and you can do it on a pit stop and we can be adjusted right for night-time. So, this is a good place for us and I hope we can get the Interstate Pontiac running good all night long.

MS: And here's a little thing called a No Bull 5 $1 million bonus out there at your favorite track. That's got to motivate you a little bit.

BL: Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. No, I tell you, being fortunate enough to be in the No Bull 5 again for this race again this year, it is a great race track for Joe Gibbs Racing and the whole team. And hopefully we can be competitive all night long and be a contender for a win hopefully. You can't ask much more than that. If we can do that, we'll see where it lays after that.

 

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