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Title talk Labonte takes Winston Cup
No one had more fun Sunday than the crew for Joe Gibbs racing. Tony Stewart won the Pennzoil 400 in Homestead, Florida and teammate Bobby Labonte finished fourth. But it was enough to clinch his first Winston Cup Series Championship joining Terry Labonte as the only brother tandem to win NASCAR's season title. Sports Illustrated's Marty Snider talked with racing's newest champion. Marty Snider: When you look down the list of names and knowing that you are the representative of this sport, what does that make you feel knowing how you got here and all that? Bobby Labonte: Nervous, hope I do a good job [laughs]. To be a part of NASCAR and Winston and the NASCAR Winston Cup champion is a great feeling. All the guys we competed against this year and beat and all the guys that were Winston Cup champions in the past. It's just a great feeling to be part of such an elite group. Snider: For so long you wouldn't talk about it. Were you superstitious? Or did you not want to think about it? Labonte: I just really didn't want to think about it. We were really concentrating on doing our job and that's how we accomplished our race [Sunday]. We were out there working real hard at it. It's not that I didn't want to talk about it. I just really didn't feel like there was much to talk about until it was decided. You never know until it's over with and I really didn't really want to talk nothing big until I knew it was me. I didn't know it was going to be me until [Sunday]. Snider: What were the defining moments? And I would assume it was Darlington. Was there a point after that race that you thought, "You know what? We can do this. This may be destined to be ours." Labonte: Well I think Darlington was definitely a key race in our season. It was going from wiping out a car in practice to qualifying, taking a provisional and winning the race. It was definitely a roller coaster weekend. I think that was...our team really dug down deep inside themselves to pull that off. Again that was just a weekend that you can look back on and say, "that was definitely a turning point in our year." Snider: What does it mean for Bobby Labonte to win this for [team owner] Joe Gibbs? Labonte: A lot for Joe Gibbs because he put a lot of faith in me to let me drive his race cars and it's just been a great several seasons. The way he is, you just want to do more for him than what he would ever ask you to do. He's that type of person. Now he's won three Super Bowl rings and to now have a Winston Cup title under him? I think it's just great for him. He's put together a great organization. I'm a very small part of it and I sure am glad I am a part of it.
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