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Wednesday, January 9

Terry Labonte
By Jerry Bonkowski
ESPN.com

Team: Hendrick Motorsports
Car/sponsor/make: No. 5 Kellogg's Chevrolet

Terry Labonte
Labonte

STATS

Year
Rank
Wins
Top 5
Top 10
Best finish

2001 23 0 0 1 Fifth, Atlanta (spring)

Career 21 26 176 First, 21 times

2001 recap
The good: There's not a whole lot of good that can be said about Labonte's worst-ever season in Winston Cup competition. About the best you can say is he was lucky to finish 23rd -- with the season he had, he should have finished even worse.

Season highlight: Highlights were not in Labonte's playbook often in 2001. There was only one top-10 start (eighth in Sonoma, Calif.) and just one top-5 finish (spring race in Atlanta) all season. Labonte also had two other top-10 finishes, both coming at Bristol -- sixth (spring) and 10th (summer). As Porky Pig would say, "th-th-th-that's all folks," when it comes to highlights for Labonte and his team.

The bad: What didn't go bad for Labonte in 2001? The former two-time Winston Cup champion didn't come close to living up to his resume. He started 22 of the season's 36 races 30th or worse, including nine of the season's first 12 events (and ended the season with an average starting spot of 30th). He was a bit better in finishing, ending the season with an average of 24th, including finishing 11 races 30th or higher.

Season lowlight: There are so many lowlights, it's hard to pick just one. Labonte was one of the most crash-prone drivers on the circuit in 2001, failing to finish eight races, including six premature exits due to accidents. His worst finish of the season was 40th in July's Pepsi 400 at Daytona -- also due to a crash.

Terry Labonte
Terry Labonte struggled through his worst season as a Winston Cup driver in 2001.

Key stat: How bad was 2001 when compared to the rest of Labonte's career? His lowest-ever season finish in Winston Cup competition was 18th, which he earned in 1991 and '93, his last season with Billy Hogan before joining Rick Hendrick's operation in 1994. His best campaign in recent year was his championship-winning season in 1996. But Labonte has been on a downward slide since, finishing sixth (1997), ninth (1998), 12th (1999), 17th (2000) and an embarrassing 23rd in 2001.

2002 outlook
What needs to be done: It's a miracle Labonte wasn't given his walking papers at season's end. Ironically, perhaps the one thing that saved him was teammate Jeff Gordon winning the championship. There was so much attention focused on Gordon last season that few observers bothered to wonder just what was wrong in the Labonte camp. But if Labonte continues to struggle, it's almost a certainty that he'll be gone from Hendrick by season's end, if not sooner.

Prediction: Given his downward slide in the standings the last five seasons, is it possible this could be Labonte's last season in Winston Cup? He may be primed for retirement, set to move on to the next phase of his career -- perhaps as a broadcaster, team manager, crew chief or team owner. While there have been some changes in team personnel for 2002, it doesn't appear on the surface as if there will be a dramatic comeback any time soon. Look for him to finish 20th, at best. A more realistic finish might be closer to 30th.

Your take
Can Labonte bounce back? Or is his remarkable Winston Cup career finally winding down? Check out your thoughts.

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