Labonte

LONG POND, Pa. -- If Bobby Labonte walks to his car at Pocono Raceway and breaks a sweat before the command to start his engine, he'll be thrilled.

"Maybe it'll be about 100 degrees this weekend and well be slipping and sliding all over the place,'' he said. "That to me would make for an exciting race.''

That might not be a popular sentiment on the Winston Cup circuit, with NASCAR's top drivers trying to forget last Sunday's race at New Hampshire International Speedway. A new asphalt surface began to come apart and mixed with worn rubber, creating a track some likened to driving on ice.

That's fine with Labonte and crew chief Jimmy Makar, and a slick surface for the Pennsylvania 500 might be in the offing Sunday with a forecast that calls for temperatures in the low 90s on the mountaintop

"Jimmy seems to know what I like as the race progresses and the track starts to get a little slippery,'' said Labonte, the defending race champion and a three-time Pocono winner. "That's when I think I am at my best -- getting up on the wheel and having to really drive the car.''

Labonte knows plenty about winning on at Pocono. A victory Sunday would match the record shared by four drivers for the most in a career on the 2½-mile triangular track.

Two of those victories came in 1999 -- the only Pocono sweep since Tim Richmond won both races 13 years earlier. Still, Labonte had his down times on the track.

"In 1996, I didn't finish either of the races,'' he said. "One of them was a wreck on the second lap. But since then, I have been running at the finish every other time here.''

Labonte, the 2000 series champion, has had a terrible season, with just one victory and a standing of 20th in the points race. His Pontiac and that of teammate Tony Stewart have been so noncompetitive some weeks that Joe Gibbs Racing already has announced it will a switch next year to Chevrolets.

In fact, Stewart and Labonte are expected to be in Chevys for at least some of the remaining races this year.

The Fords of Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd, the top cars last month in the Pocono 500, should be prominent this weekend.

Jarrett was poised to finish second when teammate Rudd developed a tire problem and fell out of the lead with just five laps to go. Lucky or not, Jarrett was in position to take advantage and booked his third victory at Pocono.

Jarrett is one of the favorites but NASCAR is more competitive than ever, with 13 winners in the first 19 Winston Cup events.

"I don't think you could pick anybody anywhere,'' he said. "But if it plays out green for a long period of time towards the end, then you're going to see the better race cars up front.''

Among them should be Jarrett and Rudd, in part because they drive for Robert Yates.

"Our strength is our horsepower and it's a very good place to take advantage of that,'' Jarrett said.

Essentially, Pocono is three drag strips connected by very sharp turns with various degrees of banking. A car down on power will not compete, but Jarrett insists speed is not the only factor.

"It's about handling and knowing your strengths,'' he said. "Making a fast lap around there is totally different from making a 35-lap run during the race.

"We've found a very good balance with our cars at Pocono, so I look for Ricky and I to both be strong.''