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Saturday, August 4
Labonte edges Stewart for IROC title
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Bobby Labonte couldn't help it.
The wiggle that sent Tony Stewart crashing into the wall in he
fourth turn late in the IROC race Saturday wasn't intentional. It
was racing between two NASCAR teammates.
|  | | Bobby Labonte edged Tony Stewart by .324 seconds to win his first IROC title. |
The accident knocked Stewart out of contention in the last of
four True Value International Race of Champions events this season
and handed Labonte a six-car length victory -- and the IROC title.
"This car was really loose most of the day," said Labonte, who
went into the race with three other drivers, including Stewart,
within five points of his lead. "I tried all I could do to stay
off of him."
When Labonte couldn't, he wound up beating runner-up Stewart by
10 points, 68-58, for the $250,000 series prize. Labonte raced with
a little No. 3 on his car, a tribute to last year's IROC champion,
Dale Earnhardt, who started the season as one of the 12 drivers in
the all-star series and was not replaced after his death in the
Daytona 500.
It was the one-on-one duel between Labonte and Stewart, friends
who both drive for Joe Gibbs Racing on the Winston Cup circuit, who
drew most of the attention Saturday.
During the second half of the race, the two battled alone for
the victory and the points title, with CART star Kenny Brack and
Eddie Cheever of the Indy Racing League, the other contenders,
trailing.
Brack finished one point behind Stewart in third, followed by
Cheever another 10 points back.
With about 70,000 spectators scattered through the vast Indy
grandstands cheering them on, Labonte and Stewart raced
side-by-side for several laps at a time. They bumped, made passes
and attempted more passes before Stewart got caught in the wake of
Labonte's Pontiac Trans-Am and slammed into the concrete wall on
the 35th of 40 laps on the 2½-mile oval.
"I didn't want to race like that," Labonte said. "We traded a
little bit of paint -- didn't really mean to."
Stewart bounced off the wall and kept racing but wasn't able to
challenge again.
Stewart, who grew up about an hour south of Indianapolis, was
not angry at his teammate.
"I don't know what happened," Stewart said. "We probably
picked up a big push, and he ran me right out into the fence. To
run second here, there's no disgrace in that, especially to your
team. It was a fun race."
Stewart spent the early part of the race charging hard, easily
moving past Labonte and Buddy Lazier in the first 10 laps, to go
from eighth to second.
He spent most of the next 10 laps chasing Jeff Burton, who had
pulled away from the rest of the 11-car field. On the restart after
a caution flag for debris on the track, Stewart and Labonte
sandwiched Burton in the middle of turn 3.
Labonte and Stewart both passed Burton safely, but as Burton
tried to dip in behind Stewart on the inside, defending IRL
champion Lazier slammed into the back of Burton's car. Both
hit the wall hard, but neither was injured.
"It was just good hard racing," Lazier said. "I feel fine,
but it was a hard hit. When you are racing hard, you just run out
of room."
Labonte took advantage of the next restart, on lap 20, speeding
past Stewart, into the lead and setting off a battle between the
two Winston Cup drivers that lasted until Stewart bounced off the
wall.
On the 24th lap, Stewart tried to pass on the outside, and
Labonte held him off. Then Stewart tried to pass on the inside, and
Labonte held him off again.
Two laps later, Stewart finally succeeded, scooting past Labonte
on the inside.
Labonte waited eight laps, then responded by trying to pass on
the inside as the cars bumped coming down the straightaways.
On the 35th lap, the two cars came out of the fourth turn too
high and bumped again. With Labonte on the inside, Stewart hit the
wall ending his hopes of victory.
"I wouldn't have run that close with anybody else," Stewart
said. "I trust Bobby more than I trust anybody. I ran out of real
estate, I didn't expect him to do that."
NASCAR's Dale Jarrett was fourth, with Al Unser Jr., a two-time
IROC champion, filling in for injured IRL competitor Scott
Goodyear, fifth. He was followed by former IROC champ Ricky Rudd,
Cheever, Busch Series champion Jeff Green, Mark Dismore of the IRL,
Burton and Lazier. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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