Post Race Quotes - Chevy Rock and Roll 400

BOBBY LABONTE QUOTES FOLLOWING THE CHEVY ROCK AND ROLL 400 NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES RACE AT RICHMOND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2004.

Notes: Bobby Labonte finished 16th in Saturday night's race at Richmond and did not qualify for the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup. He leaves Richmond 13th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series championship standings, 465 behind leader Jeff Gordon.

BOBBY LABONTE, No. 18 WELLBUTRIN XL CHEVROLET:

HOW DISAPPOINTED ARE YOU NOT TO MAKE THE TOP-10? "I'm disappointed. We were running pretty good there for a while. It's so hard to tell. Guys pitted there behind us and we were kind of in a position where we didn't need to pit for track position. It's obviously all about track position, obviously [laughs]. We came in and pitted there and we got behind. We got a lap down because some guys there didn't have to pit there for a while and that put us a lap down. Then we ended up a lap down with two laps to go and I think we had a better racecar than that but we just couldn't show it at the end. Not that we would have been in the top-10 but a better finish than that would have been more fun."

DID YOU WANT TO KNOW WHERE YOU WERE AT THERE AT THE END? "It didn't matter. There were 16 cars on the lead lap and we were running 19th when that restart happened. At that point in time you know it don't really matter. You just go out there and drive as fast as you can and pass as many cars as you can and make up as many positions as you can because you know that's points and whatever happens, happens. Right now, we're here and they're there and we'll go to Loudon and the next 10 races and try to finish 11th in points. I'm disappointed that we didn't finish better tonight, whether we got in the top-10 tonight or not because I think we had a better car. I don't want to say it, but it seemed like most people had trouble passing for the most part. Wherever you were running, you were running."

LOOKING BACK, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY? "It wasn't all about tonight, I can tell you that [smiles]. We had a better car tonight than where we finished. Our pit strategy was working out good until that caution flag come out, obviously, just because track position is so important everywhere we go and obviously I'm not very good at that. If we would have had a better finish we wouldn't have made the top-10 anyway, but if we had had a better finish it would have been a lot more fun."

HOW BIG OF A FACTOR WAS THE PERSONNEL CHANGES THAT YOUR TEAM MADE EARLIER THIS SEASON? "I think we were going downhill before that. I hated that we had to do that, but it was something that needed to be done, whether we made the top-10 or didn't. We knew that decision had to be made. It's just unfortunate for us that it turned out that way because it looks like people will point fingers at that. That really wasn't the problem."