Labontes Wow The Crowd At Martinsville

Martinsville, Va.- Who would have thought at the end of the Virginia 500, a
Labonte would be in victory lane? After all, Bobby Labonte has never won a
Winston Cup short track event and his older brother Terry, hasn’t won a race
since 1999.

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Bobby, took the white and yellow flags at the same
time after Bobby Hamilton and other drivers tangled with just two laps
remaining.

Labonte and his Jimmy Makar led pit crew decided to take on two tires instead
of four during the final (major) stop sequence of the day.

Bobby’s teammate, Tony Stewart has a handful of victories on the circuit’s
short tracks. Having won on Richmond, Martinsville and Bristol. Stewart began
the race eighth, and finished the event third.

Bobby had previously won at Martinsville in a Busch Series event, but never
in his Interstate Batteries Cup ride.

With Bobby Labonte already finding Victory Lane in 2002, when is Terry going
to get there? That’s a good question. He hasn’t so much as led a single lap in
Winston Cup since October of 2000. That was until Sunday.

Terry started the race fourth, ran in the top 10 the majority of the day, and
led the field on two separate occasions for a total of 11 laps. He ended the
race sixth.

Labonte, driver of the No.5 Kellogg’s Chevy, heads to Talladega coming off of
two straight top-10 finishes.

Terry Labonte’s performance in Sunday’s race was the strongest showing for
Hendrick Motorsports. Labonte’s teammate and pole sitter for the Virginia 500,
Jeff Gordon, had numerous problems throughout the day. Varying from a flat tire,
to a penalty, to broken power steering. He ended the race 23rd. Fellow teammates
Jerry Nadeau and Jimmie Johnson also had problems.

Sunday’s win gives the 2000 Winston Cup Champion, Bobby Labonte, 19 career
wins. Older brother Terry, the 1984 and 1996 Cup Champ, has 21 career wins.