Terry Labonte has been a fixture on pit road since 1979. Credit: Autostock

Conversation: Terry Labonte

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Terry Labonte's NASCAR career is coming to a close, probably sooner than anyone figured.

With Labonte cutting back to a 10-race schedule in 2005 and 2006, he has only two races left in his full-time career -- Sunday's Southern 500 at Darlington and next weekend's race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

AUDIO Conversation: Terry Labonte

But Labonte, one of a handful of drivers with two NASCAR championships, isn't too wrapped up in sentiment. That's for another time, another place. For now, he's concerned about trying to finish out a strong but underrated career on a positive note, while helping another Labonte, his son Justin, get a career going.

Labonte recently sat down with NASCAR.COM staff writer Lee Montgomery to talk about his past, his future, Justin's future and that tragic Hendrick Motorsports plane crash that took the lives of many of his close friends.

You guys announced (Friday) that Justin's going to Haas CNC. How excited are you about that and how his career?

It's a good move for us. I had given it a lot of thought and tried to figure out how to get our team a little bit better and where it needed to be. I just felt like us partnering up with Gene Haas and his team was a good opportunity for us and the Coast Guard. I felt like, hopefully, we can get to where we want to be a lot quicker by doing this.

I'm excited about Justin being back in a Chevy. That was part of the decision, too. If I was going to do something with somebody, it was definitely going to be a Chevy team.

Does that move help you become a "dad" instead of a team owner and such?

Well, I'm that also, but I'm still going to be part of the team. That was another thing I felt good about. I'll still be at 90 percent of the races.

So your travel schedule's not going to be cut down any more next year, really. Maybe a little bit?

A little bit. I'll have some Sundays off, I guess. I'm looking forward to it. Like I said when I announced I was cutting back, my No. 1 priority was to help Justin and his team and get it better and try to get it where it needed to be. That's really what I'm committed to do.

I'm guessing his victory at Chicago was one of the proudest moments of your life. Is that accurate?

The other thing that also made me proud of that was we did it out of our own shop. Over the years, we've had a successful Busch program up there, won several races and a couple of Busch championships out of there, so it meant a lot for me for Justin to win his first Busch race out of our shop. We kind of got that behind us, and it's time to move on and look down the road. We'll try to get better and get him in something that he can be a little bit more consistent in.

You've got no doubts that he's got the talent to do this? And the desire, too, even though he knows how tough this is, watching you and Bobby for these years?

Terry Labonte's career numbers include 22 Cup victories. Credit: Autostock

Well, there's no doubt about it, it's a extremely competitive series. It's very tough to be successful in it. But it all comes down to the whole combination of everything: the team, the people. Justin is the strong point of our team and has done a really good job. I've got a lot of confidence in him and feel like he's definitely got the desire to do it.

He wants to do it more than anything, and that's a big part of it. He's serious about it. He's been around racing all his life, and he's kind of come up the hard way, started in go-karts, mini-stockers, Late Models, Hooters Pro Cup. He's been to a lot more tracks than I have. I'm excited for him for this opportunity.

You know, you've only got a few more races left in full-time NASCAR career.

Yep.

Has there been any kind of sentimental thoughts about that yet? Any memories yet, or is there just no time?

I really haven't given it a lot of thought. I'm excited about what we've put together and I feel good about that. I've been doing this for a long time and have been to every race for over 26 years. I still love it, I still enjoy doing it.

But you know, you can't do it forever. This is a good way, for me, personally. I like what I'm doing better than just running one more year, all out and then walking away from it. This will kind of let me walk away from it slowly and still be part of the team. And it will give me opportunities of some things I want to do.

I feel really good about it. I feel great about it. I'm excited about our plan for the next couple of years.

It's pretty cool that you're going to end up at Texas in 2006. I know that's still a long ways off, but have you thought about that at all and what that's going to be like?

Not really. I really haven't. I just felt like that since I started racing in Texas, that would be an appropriate place to run my final event. That's how I picked Texas.

Some people said, "Why didn't you pick Darlington?" That's where I ran my first Cup race. I don't know. I thought Texas was more appropriate.

Talking about Darlington a little bit, I love hearing stories about drivers in their early years. What do you remember, what can you tell me about that first race back in '78 and how different it was?

Sure, it was a lot different. But of course, I didn't know how it was supposed to be. The thing that stands out in my mind, and I never will forget this. I've told this story before. They used to have a rookie meeting, and I guess they still do.

They showed a video of the previous year's event, and the car I was driving was car 92. It made every highlight in that video of things not to do. I sat there on this couch, and I think Cale Yarborough was the veteran driver in there giving conducting the rookie meeting, and thought to myself, "I can't believe this. My No. 1 goal is to not make next year's video."

Kyle Busch will be the main driver of the No. 5 Chevy in 2005. Credit: Autostock

I never will forget that. I sat there and watched that. The car was painted exactly like (mine), same number and everything. I thought, "God, this is terrible." Anyway, I paid attention. I tried not to make any mistakes. We wound up finishing fourth, and it was a good start.

And you didn't make the highlights for the next year.

No, I didn't make the highlights.

But then you won there two years later, and of course, won there last year. Darlington is still a special place for you.

Oh, no doubt about it. To win the Southern 500 ... it's the oldest race that we have, oldest track that we have. There's a lot of tradition there and a lot of history there. It's an old place, it's not the prettiest place, it's a tough place.

I hate they moved the date. It was just a Labor Day tradition when it was, man, so hot. I was glad it was hot last year. I like hot weather, and that was a good, hot one there. I just thought it was perfect Southern 500 weather.

I don't know. I guess I'm kind of old-fashioned, but some things are tradition. Some things I just don't feel like you can step away from, and that was one of them. I was disappointed when I heard they were going to move that date.

And that was really the last true Southern 500. I know this year's race is called the Southern 500, but it's November. That's just a little weird.

Yeah, it's weird. I guarantee the people that fly those Confederate flags down there think it's weird. It's definitely different.

The last few weeks have been kinda crazy for you, with the retirement deal and the plane crash and now Justin's deal. How had it been like, emotionally, for you?

Well, the retirement announcement, that was exciting, finally telling everybody what our plans were. And then Justin's deal, that was something we were really happy to put together.

The plane crash was just unbelievable. It's still, still hard to believe. It's very, very difficult. There are a lot of us on this team -- not just this team, but all of Hendrick Motorsports -- it has really been hard for us to accept that. It's just been a very, very hard couple weeks.

I will say that during the news conference (Oct. 29), I know a lot of media folks said this, too, you handled it with a lot of class. We appreciate the way all you guys have handled it. I know how difficult it's been.

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My wife and I were talking about it. I thought that this was something (where) we kind of relate to those people in New York from the 9/11 deal. You've never lost so many friends at one time. It's just unbelievable. It's very, very hard to believe. It's very difficult. It kind of made you realize what those people went through up there who lost so many friends and loved ones in a tragedy like that.

Have you spent any time at all thinking about your past and what you're going to remember 10, 15 years from now or any kind of memories that are going to stick out, or are you still just trying to live in the moment and not worry about the past?

I don't really look back at the past much. Maybe I will later or something, but I really don't. You can always look back and say, "Boy, you should've done this or you should've done that," and everybody can do that, no matter what you're doing.

But I hadn't ever really given it a lot of thought. You can probably always do something a little bit different if you could re-do it, but there probably wouldn't be a whole lot.

I'm looking forward to this season being over and getting on with next year's deal. I'm looking forward to that.

What are you going to do on Sundays? Watch more football? Hang out at the house?

I don't know. My dad was kidding me about why I picked the last race of the year, a certain one. I said, "I don't know." He said, "I know exactly why. It's the opening day of hunting season in Texas." I said, "You know, I didn't even realize that." But that's good.

I don't know. I just don't know what. It'll be different. The biggest thing that's going to be different is no waking up on Sunday morning and having to go to a hospitality event, whether it's a suite or a tent. That's something you do every weekend before the race.

I guess one thing I have thought about is, I just don't think people will race as long as I have -- like Ricky Rudd and some of us. We've been doing this for a long time. The demands on the driver today are just so much greater than they used to be when we first started out.

And the opportunities are a lot greater today for young guys coming in. When we started, nobody wanted young drivers. They wanted a veteran driver. Now, people are willing to take chances with young drivers and give them an opportunity.

But I just don't think you'll see guys race near as long as we did. Honestly, in my own personal opinion, I feel like, looking at where this sport came from and looking at where it's at today and looking at the direction I think it's going in, I think I've been in part of the best years of it.

It's not going to grow as much as it has. There's no way it can get that much bigger from what I've been able to witness. I just feel like I've been able to experience NASCAR racing during some of its greatest years.

Last question: You're two-time champion in this sport, one of only 13 guys to do that. Do you think that's going to be your legacy as a driver? Or is there something else?

Terry Labonte is one of only 13 drivers with multiple Cup championships. Credit: Autostock

I tell you what, there are a lot of great drivers in this garage area who have never won a championship. It's very difficult to win a championship. It's hard to do, and it takes everything. It's got to go right for you, with your team and all.

To be able to win two of them was just awesome. Looking back on it, we were in a position to where I felt like we could've won a couple more back in the '80s with the (Billy) Hagan team. We had so many engine failures, and we led the points in '85 and '86. If we would've had an engine program that would've been a little bit better or not had quite so many failures, we had a chance to win another championship.

At Junior (Johnson's) up there, we finished third and fourth in the points. Same deal, we had too many DNFs. We should've won a championship there.

Looking back on it, at the time you don't really think about it. You think, "Golly, it's too bad. We'll get 'em next week." But it's easy now to look back and say, "Boy, you know, we could've won another championship if we wouldn't have been in the garage so much."

That's kind of disappointing, because it would have been a whole lot neater to have won three or four championships that two.