Though we view this week’s Daytona 500 drivers as rich and successful now, none of them reached NASCAR’s Super Bowl without some bumps along the way. We asked several drivers to share the story of a difficult moment with us. Up first: Bobby Labonte.
Bobby Labonte’s Road To The 2011 Daytona 500
Over the past two seasons, 2000 Cup champion Bobby Labonte’s career hit the skids in a major way. Long gone were the glory days of his time at Joe Gibbs Racing, replaced instead by a miserable 2009 (in which he lost his Hall of Fame Racing ride) and an even worse 2010 (in which he was uncompetitive and even had to start-and-park at times).
But Labonte pushed on, and his perseverance paid off: This year, he’s getting a chance to revive his career with JTG Daugherty Racing.
Here’s Labonte on the struggles of the past two years, in his own words:
There was definitely times of (asking myself), ‘Should I stay home or not?' That was very difficult. There was a couple races in particular where I could have said, ‘There's no sense in going.'
But in my mind, if I had (stayed home), I don't know if that would have gotten me to where I am today – if I'd have quit, if I'd have stopped.
So I look back on that and think if I didn't have that perseverance, I wouldn't be here today. So hopefully that made me a better person and a stronger person.
Knowing what I went through, this is a good opportunity.
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