Labonte

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The 2003 Winston Cup season didn't get off to a very good start for Bobby Labonte.

The driver of the No. 18 Chevrolet was able to survive an early spin. But his luck would run out due to a wreck he wasn't even initially involved in.

On lap 57, Ward Burton got into the back of Ken Schrader's No. 49 car. Schrader bounced off the wall and then hit Ryan Newman, whose car proceeded to flip into the infield. Newman was OK after the crash.

Labonte, meanwhile, had gone low to avoid the wreck.

"The wreck happened out there in front of us. I saw the 12 car flipping," said Labonte, who started 22nd on Sunday. "We came down pit road and got down to the end of pit road, and I was to the inside of a few cars that were down there. I had already told the guys that it looked like I made it through there."

But the accident had sent Schrader straight onto pit road.

"The 49 car came sliding across," Labonte said. "I don't know, he was in the wreck I guess and probably didn't have any brakes or steering, and I centered him."

The collision, which send Labonte's car to the garage shortly before rain brought out a red flag for 1:08, was seemingly out of Labonte's control. But that didn't stop the former Winston Cup champion from taking some responsibility.

"There are about 100 things I feel like I could have done," he said. "I'll replay that in my mind all the time.

"I locked up the brakes, which I shouldn't have. But at the time I couldn't really help it. It happened so fast, I hit the brakes and locked it up. When you lock it up, you can't steer it. But at the time I wasn't thinking about trying to get turned in further because I was like, 'Hey, I'm going to hit him (Schrader) one way or another. I need to keep slowing down as much as I could.'

Labonte said he could have and should have been driving even slower down pit road, provided there was any way to anticipate what was about to happen.

"I was on the inside of a car trying to see right in front of me," he said. "Didn't want to be on somebody's butt. All of a sudden he hit the brakes and I was going to slam into him. So I kind of staggered it a little bit. And as I was slowing down I was like, 'OK, alright.' I didn't slow down quite as much as I should have. But I didn't think somebody would come across pit road sideways, either."

Crew chief Michael McSwain and Co. were trying to get the car back on track to pick up some points as racing resumed following the rain delay. The team did eventually get Labonte back on track, though he finished 28 laps down in 41st place when rain brought out the second red flag of the day, eventually giving Michael Waltrip his second-career Daytona 500 victory.

Earlier in the day, Labonte's previously strong run was interrupted by a spin into the grass. The yellow flag was thrown, Labonte recovered and remained on the lead lap.

"We had put two tires on it and got loose," Labonte said. "We caught a bunch of cars. When we caught them, I went up to the outside. Some guys behind me got the car loose, I guess, and spun around. ... Just got all the air taken off the back."

Labonte's last few trips to the Daytona 500 have been tough. He finished sixth in 2000 and went on to win the championship that season. But Labonte was 40th in 2001 and 34th last season. Those finishes have also been indicative of Labonte's relatively tough seasons since his title campaign, in which he finished all but nine laps throughout the season.

"It's frustrating because we had two years when nothing happened. Then all of a sudden years something happened. It's frustrating.

"It's rough on obviously all these guys. That's the worst part about it. Seemed like today we were so good from the beginning. Didn't go like we thought. Spun out. (Then the wreck happened) -- missed everything and still got into something."

Of course, a bad Daytona 500 finish is not necessarily a sign of things to come. Four drivers have finished 36th or worse in the season-opener and gone on to win the championship that season, including Labonte's teammate Tony Stewart (finished 43rd) last season. Dale Jarrett finished 37th in 1999, Darrell Waltrip was 36th in 1981 and Cale Yarborough finished 42nd in 1976.

But does Stewart's rebound of 2002 provide any consolation to Labonte?

"No, because that's not how he wanted to start, either," he said.

Still, as big as Daytona is, it is just one race of 36. There's plenty of time for the No. 18 crew to get going in 2003.

"One thing about it is these guys are real tough," Labonte said. "They'll bounce back. We go to a lot more races this year. (I'm glad we don't have) 10 of these races because my luck with these aren't very good right now."