Daytona 500 2000 - Labonte ready to break away from the pack

Labonte ready to break away from the pack
ESPN The Magazine

'99 EARNINGS: $3,550,341 | POINTS: 2nd | WINS: 5 | TOP 5: 23 | TOP 10: 26

BOBBY LABONTE

What Makes Him Go: Labonte has learned his older brother's great secret: A steady and sure driver usually beats a lead foot in the run for the championship. Bobby was involved in 10 yellow flags for spins and crashes in his rookie year of 1993. Last season, he was a principal in only three yellow-flag incidents, a personal low that earned him a tie for second fewest among regular drivers.
What Makes Him Slow: Bristol Motor Speedway seems to have Bobby Labonte's number. He finished 37th and 26th in the two 1999 races at the high-banked, half-mile Tennessee oval. And the previous season wasn't much better (34th and 25th). Labonte's last top-10 finish at that crash course was an 8th in the 1997 night race.
Key Stat: 5 That's the number of Winston Cup wins Bobby had in 1999, two more than his brother Terry Labonte has won in any of his 22 seasons. Of course, Terry's still ahead 2-0 in the stat that matters most: Cup championships.

How do you define "NASCAR breakthrough?" Try "Bobby Labonte's 1999 season."

Career-best five victories.

Second in Winston Cup points, his highest ranking ever.

A total of 23 top-five finishes, all but five of which were top-threes.

Only three yellow flags.

Only one DNF.

Yeah, we'd call that a breakthrough.

So how come he's not the defending Winston Cup champion? Because his eight finishes outside the Top 10 start with a lowly 19th and go down, down, down from there -- two 24ths, a 25th, a 26th, a 27th, a 37th and a 38th. To win the 2000 title, Labonte needs to turn those mid-twenties (and worse) into mid-teens.

Labonte has the horses to do it. His No. 18 Interstate Batteries ride is the best Pontiac in the field -- and the Pontiac is currently the best car in the series.

Anticipated NASCAR rule changes will probably shrink the Grand Prix's spoiler (and make the car fractionally slower), but Pontiacs will likely remain tops in 2000. Chevy and Ford are bringing out new models, and their teams will need time to maximize performance.

His biggest challenge may come from his teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, Tony Stewart, who won three races in 1999 and had NASCAR's finest rookie season ever.

Few scenarios get NASCAR hearts pumping faster than a rivalry between teammates. What makes this particular intra-garage duel so tasty is the difference in personalities. Labonte takes a measured, patient approach on the oval. Stewart brings an Earnhardt-like greediness to the track that sometimes gets him in trouble -- even with Labonte.

The dogfight between the two in Miami last November may be a preview of coming attractions. Late in the race, coming out of a pit stop, Stewart barreled into Turn Three under Labonte, instead of backing off. Predictably enough, Stewart's fresh tires didn't fully grip and he slid up into his teammate, pushing Labonte out of the groove and, temporarily, into fifth place.

Labonte shouted into his radio, "That little (expletive) better run off to Ray Evernham before I get my hands on him!"

If nothing else, this proved that Labonte was plugged into the Winston Cup rumor mill, then awash with spurious whispers that Stewart was joining Evernham to pioneer Dodge's return to NASCAR in 2001. But it also proved Labonte wasn't about to take any crap from his stablemate.

In just eight years, Gibbs has gone from some NFL coach with a hobby to one of the top owners in NASCAR. You've got to believe a man with three Super Bowl rings knows how to mediate disputes between high-strung, fired-up athletes in the heat of battle.

But football players are working toward a mutual goal. In NASCAR 2000, Labonte and Stewart will be gunning for the same trophy. Things might get ugly.

Our call? Experience and consistency by a car length over youth and passion.

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