Long before the #88 UPS Ford Fusion was scheduled to make a lap on the race track in 2006, team personnel started working on plans of action for the impending NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season. Preparing race cars and testing, which started in full swing with the start of the New Year and pre-season testing at Daytona International Speedway, is only one part of the season planning process. The planning process is an evolving activity and one that takes place continuously.
Before testing even started, Robert Yates Racing started evaluation themselves and the competition. Looking inside, the team figured out where they were, where they wanted to be and how to reach their goal. Starting with personnel, the team made changes to the pit crew in an effort to improve pit road performance for the 2006 season. While looking for talent outside the organization, crew chief Slugger Labbe said it is just as important to take care of the talented people that are already part of the organization.
"To me this sport is all about people," Labbe said. "And you have to have the right people working for you. If you do have the right people, you have to make sure they're happy. The way the sport is today, if you need someone for a position such as tire specialist, you don't go to the Busch Series rather you hire one from another team. So it's real important that when you have someone that is talented and a good worker that you work hard to make them want to stay."
Solidifying the race team is a continual job. In the meantime, the team has specific goals for which they have devised a game plan. The two obvious goals are more trips to victory lane and securing a position in the 2006 Chase for the Championship. Labbe, who guided driver Jeremy Mayfield to a spot in the Chase in 2005, said while there isn't an exact science for securing a Top 10 position, there is no substitute for good old-fashioned consistency.
"The first 26 races we have to get as many points as we can because we have got to make the Chase," Labbe said. "On a weekly basis we're there to win but the ultimate goals are the Chase and the opportunity to win a championship. You have 26 races to get in that Chase. It doesn't matter to me if you are first or 10th once you get in the Chase because when you get in there are only 40 points separating first to 10th. You have to race smart in the first 26 races and then the next 10 you can let it hang out, be aggressive, do different things and make different pit calls - whatever you need to do to go ahead and win some of those last 10 races."
The state of competition in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series today is such that just about any one on any given weekend has an opportunity to visit victory lane. Just the same, Labbe said that there are the teams that will be a threat to win each and every week.
"The Hendrick and Roush teams of course are the teams you look at every single week as a threat to win," Labbe said. "I think the key is being competitive every week and not having any problems. For example, if you're running eighth you have to make sure you know what you have as far as the car is concerned. If we're running eighth we might be able to get to fifth, but in doing so we could easily drop to 25th. So, the driver has to be smart and race smart."
"Our goals is always to win. If you can't then you have to be able to recognize that while we want to win today, we can't so we have to try to get the best finish possible," he added.
Labbe said in the respect of making the most of a bad day, he feels ahead of the curve when compared to many race teams due to driver Dale Jarrett's experience and abilities behind the wheel of a race car.
"Dale is a heck of a race car driver," Labbe explained. "He's been doing this a while and he doesn't get in very many wrecks. He's a smart driver and he knows what he has and he is going to do the best he can to get the best finish every week Keeping the car out of the fence will gain more points than not, and he's one of the best I've seen at making the most of a bad day."
