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With Tony's car clearly the class of the field, how can the other car of a two car stable be so far off??
Ill-Handling Car Leaves Bobby
Labonte 23rd At Watkins Glen
Camp & Associates, Inc.
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y., (August 12, 2002) – Sunday’s Sirius Satellite at the Glen race is one Bobby Labonte would probably be happy to forget. From the drop of the green flag, Labonte and the team never really seemed to make a serious move towards the front and throughout the race, struggled with the set-up of the car. In the end, Labonte crossed the finish line in a disappointing 23rd finishing position.
“We were terrible out there today,” said a dejected and tired Labonte. “We tried everything we could think of on the car from putting more spring rubbers in the rear springs and even unhooking the rear bar and nothing seemed to work. We just missed the set-up out there today and I don’t understand it. I am not very happy with our showing and we have nothing to be proud of. It just means there is still a lot of work to do.”
While complaining most of the day that the car was loose getting into and off most of the corners, Labonte and crew chief Jimmy Makar made numerous trips to pit road to try and help the situation. On top of that, there were certain times during the day that Labonte was experiencing the front-tires chattering through the turns which is a sure sign that the car was scrubbing off speed and too tight.
“We were mostly loose in and off the corners,” explained Labonte. “Yet I was still chattering the front tires in the middle of the corners. This is such a momentum track and if you lose speed on any portion of this track, it really kills your lap times and it takes a little while to get going again. By that time, you have usually been passed by a number of cars. That seemed to be what was happening to us a lot today.”
“You’ve heard it all season, but track position was everything out there today,” continued Labonte. “We might have had a better finish if we had not tried to make so many changes, but both Jimmy and I felt we really needed to come into the pits and see if we could get the car better.”
“I’m embarrassed about our performance out here today,” added Jimmy Makar. “We never got it going. We took a chance at making a lot of changes to the car and nothing really seemed to be making Bobby any more comfortable. We’ll have to go back and look at our notes and see if there is something we missed. Clearly there is, but I’m just not sure what it is. At least we know Tony’s (Stewart) car was good and clearly he was able to get his car to work.”
Ill-Handling Car Leaves Bobby
Labonte 23rd At Watkins Glen
Camp & Associates, Inc.
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y., (August 12, 2002) – Sunday’s Sirius Satellite at the Glen race is one Bobby Labonte would probably be happy to forget. From the drop of the green flag, Labonte and the team never really seemed to make a serious move towards the front and throughout the race, struggled with the set-up of the car. In the end, Labonte crossed the finish line in a disappointing 23rd finishing position.
“We were terrible out there today,” said a dejected and tired Labonte. “We tried everything we could think of on the car from putting more spring rubbers in the rear springs and even unhooking the rear bar and nothing seemed to work. We just missed the set-up out there today and I don’t understand it. I am not very happy with our showing and we have nothing to be proud of. It just means there is still a lot of work to do.”
While complaining most of the day that the car was loose getting into and off most of the corners, Labonte and crew chief Jimmy Makar made numerous trips to pit road to try and help the situation. On top of that, there were certain times during the day that Labonte was experiencing the front-tires chattering through the turns which is a sure sign that the car was scrubbing off speed and too tight.
“We were mostly loose in and off the corners,” explained Labonte. “Yet I was still chattering the front tires in the middle of the corners. This is such a momentum track and if you lose speed on any portion of this track, it really kills your lap times and it takes a little while to get going again. By that time, you have usually been passed by a number of cars. That seemed to be what was happening to us a lot today.”
“You’ve heard it all season, but track position was everything out there today,” continued Labonte. “We might have had a better finish if we had not tried to make so many changes, but both Jimmy and I felt we really needed to come into the pits and see if we could get the car better.”
“I’m embarrassed about our performance out here today,” added Jimmy Makar. “We never got it going. We took a chance at making a lot of changes to the car and nothing really seemed to be making Bobby any more comfortable. We’ll have to go back and look at our notes and see if there is something we missed. Clearly there is, but I’m just not sure what it is. At least we know Tony’s (Stewart) car was good and clearly he was able to get his car to work.”
Rudd could get the rest of the driving out of his system (while waiting for Jaws' contract to be up at FOX), and Jones would have the benefit of Rudd's years of experience to get the team solidly started. Worse could happen. And will.