Insider's View: Bobby Labonte

Looking back now, last year gave me an entirely new outlook on my career. Coming from 2000, 2001 wasn't terrible. It wasn't as good as 2000, surely, but not awful, either. Then in 2002 we just slid further and further downhill and it tested my patience more than I ever thought possible.

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Obviously, with the struggles we had and with me being a competitor and wanting to win races, struggling like we did wasn't going to suffice. It wasn't about making money, it was about running well and winning races. So, not being capable of doing that was frustrating.

The biggest and most obvious difference between last year and this year is that we're running well. That has a way of quickly fixing a lot of things and remedying the frustration. It reaffirms what you're out there trying do, what you're spending your life trying to achieve.

You get reassurance that it's about going out there and winning trophies, that the money just comes with it.

I caught myself a while ago thinking about this. We're not happy with the car right now (in practice at Michigan), but it's OK. It was calm. Last year, I would have been in an uproar, not because we were running bad just that week, but every single week. It wasn't just one race. It was an entire season that snowballed.

It got harder and harder, and that resulted in letting steam off that you shouldn't be letting off, which is by no means anyone's fault but mine to let it get to that point. This year is easier because of the good times. You're still busting your tail to get better, but seeing those results makes all that work seem worthwhile. It's not futile.

There's a huge difference there. Last year I'd be frustrated as all get-out right now. This year I'm just like, 'OK, let's figure this out.' I have more patience.

	Labonte is fourth in Winston Cup points heading to Sonoma. Credit: Autostock

I don't think I really learned everything about the importance of patience last year, but I learned a lot. I had to really rethink things and work on my patience. You know you're going to have lows and you need to be prepared to deal with those lows when they come.

Last year was more of a relearning of it, reemphasizing of it and how important it is. It doesn't matter how laid back you are, how patient a person you are. If you want to do well and you aren't, you're going to get pissed off sometimes. You're not going to accept it very well. If you want to do well, sometimes you have to get in an uproar to get that ball started rolling. I did that last year.

And there wasn't a question of if I'd be good again, just when I'd be good again. But we struggled so many times that you tell yourself to shake it off at first, but then it doesn't get any better the next week, and the next week wasn't any better.

We're clawing and fighting and it didn't help much of anything. You're fighting that struggle all year and it seems like it's for no reason. That can drive you about half nuts. I think I was close, but it makes this year seem like a dream.