Labonte brothers break Darlington slump

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- A long slump at Darlington Raceway for Winston Cup drivers Terry and Bobby Labonte ended Friday in Bud Pole Qualifying for Sunday's Southern 500.

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The brothers from Corpus Christi, Texas, had never qualified together in the top-10 for a Darlington event in 21 previous attempts, but Friday the veteran Terry qualified third, and Bobby ended up fifth.

Bobby Labonte has had little trouble qualifying everywhere else on the Winston Cup circuit, as it has been 16 races since he lined up outside the top-20 -- including eight top-10s and two Bud Poles.

But Darlington's been another story. He's got only two top-10 starts in his last eight races here.

"I just can't get a good feel for a qualifying lap," Bobby Labonte said. "The last time here, I was good in practice but slowed down in qualifying (but) this time I picked up.

"It seems like as fast as I went, I was a little bit out of control. We didn't test here, and we're much better than we were here last time."

While Bobby, the 2000 Southern 500 winner, qualified 20th in the spring, his brother was even worse off, with a 29th place effort.

	Terry (left) and Bobby Labonte Credit: Autostock

The third place run, at a track where he won in his third appearance in the Southern 500, after finishes of fourth and third, was the latest effort in a season-long turnaround.

"We've just been working real hard on our cars, taking the ones that weren't so good and making them a lot better," Terry said. "The car we had here today was a good example of that.

"Our car was good off the truck and we had some pretty good practice runs," Terry Labonte said. "We made about three runs and then made a practice qualifying run. We made some more adjustments and got it ready to qualify.

"It's just typical Darlington. You make two or three runs and hope you can get it right before qualifying."

Southern 500  Lineup  1st Practice Speeds  Preview

Darlington Raceway had patches in the asphalt in both ends, but that didn't do much to change the violently abrasive nature of the track.

The elder Labonte said that was part of the track's "charm."

"If you're running more than one lap, it feels like the car's skating on ice," he said. "The track, the asphalt, is just real porous, it really wears the tires (and) you slide a lot on it.

	Terry Labonte has 18 straight finishes of 25th or better.

"Tire wear is as bad as any place we go, and it's due to the asphalt and the condition that it's in -- but it's been that way for a long time.

"I don't think they can make a tire that (its performance) wouldn't fall off. It's just like running a cheese grater over that tire."

But Labonte only grinned when asked if tire consumption wouldn't take fuel strategy out of a race-planning equation.

"We talked about that before we ever went out on the track," Labonte said of himself and crew chief Jim Long. "I said, 'Well, one thing about it, we don't have to worry about whether to get two tires, four tires, just gas -- whatever. You're going to get four (tires) every time here.'

"That's the way it should be. You can throw all that other stuff out the window that takes place 90 percent of the time anymore."