Bobby Labonte: The Winston preview

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. -- What a difference a year makes. This time last year, Bobby Labonte and the Interstate Batteries Racing Team entered The Winston sitting in 22nd in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series point standings. And while The Winston offers no points, Labonte was hoping to use last year's "All-Star" event as a catalyst to get the season turned around. Instead, Labonte was taken out of the race due to an accident in the second segment and was relegated to a 16th place finish.

Fast forward to this weekend's "All-Star" event. Labonte enters it sitting in fifth-place in the points and is eager to get out there and be

competitive again and hoping to capture his first victory in NASCAR's version of the All-Star game.

"A year ago we basically used The Winston as a test session of sorts," explained Labonte. "We wanted to be competitive and run well of course, but we also knew there were no points on the line and we could afford to experiment a little bit on the chassis and stuff. The beginning of the season had been so bad for us, we were just trying to get things turned around and were using that race to try some things."

"This season though is totally different with a completely different attitude," added Labonte. "We've been competitive pretty much every where we have unloaded and when we haven't, we were able to get the car adjusted and at least be in the ballpark. I would love to be able to get a win in The Winston. I've come close a couple times before, but never been able to close the deal out."

With the three different segments and each one of varying lengths, Labonte knows he will have to be able to communicate precisely to crew chief Michael McSwain what the car is doing and what it needs if they are to have a chance to win.

"The three segment deal can be good if you're not running well," said Labonte. "It gives you a chance to makes some changes to your car during the breaks they have. At the same time though, if you're running decent, you also don't want to over adjust or over think it, which is very easy to do. The track goes through a lot of changes usually and that is the one thing you have to be prepared for, but you just don't want to over adjust it."

Making the right adjustments during the segment breaks is just one of the factors that make The Winston stand apart from a normal race weekend. Probably the biggest variable though that all the drivers and teams have to contend with is the fans having a chance to invert the field for the final 20-lap segment. With only the top-14 finishers from the second segment making it to the final segment, it's unknown until just before the green-flag falls for the final segment how many cars the fans will vote to invert.

"It's going to be a knock-down, drag-out fight in the final segment," admitted Labonte. "No matter how many drivers the fans decide to invert, you are not going to be able to waste any time getting to the front. With $1 million going to the winner, I can guarantee that you are going to see some ugly racing in that final segment. I guess that's just part of it with that much money on the line. Everyone is going to be going for the same piece of real estate on the track and it usually will cause some fireworks. The only fireworks I want to see are the one's shooting up in the air after I'm in victory lane."