300th for Bobby Labonte: In typical Bobby Labonte fashion, a simple shrug of the shoulders is all you get when he was told this weekend’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway would be his 300th career NASCAR Winston Cup start. For Labonte, he feels as though it’s not really that big of a deal. To him, it’s just another race, except for the fact that it will take place on the high banks of Bristol. “It’s cool that I am making it to my 300th start and all,” said Labonte. “But when you look at what Terry (Labonte – 715 career starts this weekend) has done, it really doesn’t mean that much. I remember my first Cup start at Dover in 1991. We didn’t belong there and we bit off more than we could chew and realized that real quick. There were times like that early on in my career I doubted I would even make 50 starts let alone 300. I have been so fortunate to be associated with two great owners in Bill Davis and Joe Gibbs while racing at the Winston Cup level. Without them, I wouldn’t be here that’s for sure.” When asked about racing long enough to equal the number of starts his older brother Terry has, Labonte quickly remarked, “Absolutely not! That would mean I would have to race at least 11 more years and I am not planning on racing that long I don’t think. I love racing and who I work for and all that, but I can not imagine doing this for 11 more years.”(Joe Gibbs Racing PR)(3-20-2002)
