Labonte Strong in February, Looks Forward To Return
#43 Pillsbury/Cinnabon Paint Scheme at Daytona

This weekend, Bobby Labonte and the #43 Pillsbury/Cinnabon Dodge team head to the 2.5-mile Daytona ( Fla. ) International Speedway for Saturday night's Daytona 400.  The annual summer spectacle is the 17 th race in the 36-race Nextel Cup schedule.  Labonte will race a specialty-schemed #43 Pillsbury/Cinnabon paint scheme this weekend.

Labonte will be making his 28 th start at Daytona.  Labonte has finished runner-up twice at Daytona.  He has five top-five and eight top-10 finishes at Daytona.  Labonte had strong runs at Daytona in February.  The team finished fourth in the Gatorade Duel 150.  Labonte was also running strong in the Daytona 500 before an accident late in the race.

Questions for Labonte as he prepares for this weekend's Daytona 400:

You were strong at Daytona in February.  Are you looking forward to Saturday?

"Yea, I think so.  We should have another strong car.  We feel pretty good about what we have for this weekend.  Our Cheerios Dodge was pretty good for the '500'.  We think we can be just as good.  We hope to be better.  We know we are stronger as a team now. We're further ahead, but we've still got more ground to gain.  We're getting closer, but we feel good about what we have for Saturday night."

Is it hard to make a car better at Daytona?

"You have to unload with a good car.  There isn't much a driver can do to make the car better. It's all about the car.  It's about the aerodynamics and the body on the car.  We had a good car here in February.  We think we've got another good car for this weekend.

"The guys back at the shop have been working hard.  We started this season getting new cars ready.  We just keep making the cars better. Todd (Parrott) knows how to win at superspeedways.  He knows how to make an aerodynamic car. Winning at Daytona starts back at the shop.  If you have a good car guys will draft and work with you.  That's something that starts back at the shop."

Is restrictor plate racing more about luck than anything else?

"It's about having a good car. A good car means everything.  I really believe Todd and the guys back at the shop have put a lot of hard work into getting this car ready.  Hard work will take a lot of the luck factor out of the equation.  You need luck to win any race, but a good car at Daytona means a whole lot more.

"You need some luck to avoid accidents and be around at the end.  This is relatively short race (400 miles) and it's fast. You have to go quickly and sometimes guys can get aggressive.  You just don't want to see the big wrecks.  It's hard to avoid them because anything can happen.  That's where luck plays its part. If we can avoid wrecks and be in good position at the end we'll be fine.  We feel we have a good car to make it a good race for us Saturday night."