Lysol 200 Weekend
Watkins Glen International
June 27-30, 1996

Pit Notes for Sunday, June 30

TERRY LABONTE INTERVIEW

TERRY LABONTE (#5 Actron Chevrolet) -- We changed shocks, springs, a
sway bar, transmission, a rear end gear. We changed about everything
except the engine and the seat. None of them were big changes, just
little changes that seemed to help us. I could get up through the esses
and never get out of the gas. I was able to keep my momentum up. I think
that was the difference. The car handled better right there, and I was
able to carry that speed all the way up the hill and all the way down
the back straight-away. We were a little frustrated after qualifying
yesterday. We had so many people beat us. And we ran every lap of
practice. I just really concentrated on where we needed to be better at,
and we came in, talked about it, and made the changes that we felt like
we needed. Some of the changes were putting the car back the way it was
a year ago. What about  passing Todd Bodine?   It was close. I had a
pretty good run at him and I dove off on the inside. You don1t get that
many chances sometimes to pass people when the cars are that even. I
felt like I better take it right then. I got up beside him, and neither
one of us backed out. Then it was like on the brakes, and get through
there. We both gave each other room and raced through there side by
side. It was close and I was able to beat him off through there. I beat
him through the inner loop and beat him through turn five. I was able to
hold him off then. My brakes were fine. Todd hung right in there with me
and I was worried about him. I didn1t know if I was going to be able to
hold him off or not. Thoughts on the upcoming Winston Cup race? Maybe I
need to paint the car... I1ve had some pretty good runs up here in the
Cup car. We1ve won the pole a couple of times. I guess 2nd is the best
we1ve finished in the race. We1ve just never been quite the best car at
the end of the race. I think we1re building a brand new car to come up
here and test. We1ll just come back and do the best we can. We1re going
to sneak up on them (Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt).  They1re worried
about each other. Regarding his Busch Grand National car:  This car is 3
years old. That car has won 3 races in a row here. We race it at Dover
and everywhere else. The competition seems to get tougher every time we
come up here. It was definitely the tightest field we1ve seen. Look at
the qualifying speeds and all the cars that are within half a second in
qualifying. That1s pretty good on a road course. That1s pretty close. We
got beat pretty bad in qualifying, but I told the guys back in the
trailer, 3It1s not over.2 I felt like we would have a decent run and
have a chance at it. The changes we made were in the right direction.
You know what1s going to happen sooner or later - you just can1t keep
winning in a row. We were very lucky to win 3 in a row here. We1ve just
been fortunate and haven1t had any trouble. Again, I don1t think we had
the fastest car today, we just were leading at the end of the race. I1m
pleasantly surprised. The competition was tough, but we ran hard all day
long. We were consistent all day.