ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 15, 1996 TAG: 9604150067
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
TERRY LABONTE DODGES a late wreck and captures the flag from the pole.
Terry Labonte has been on the verge of winning since the Winston Cup season started at Daytona two months ago.
And when the checkered flag finally flew for him Sunday in the First Union 400, it couldn't have come at a more appropriate time.
Labonte's first win of the year, and his 17th career victory, came in his 513th straight Winston Cup race, tying him with Richard Petty for the most consecutive Winston Cup starts.
And since he won from the pole position, Labonte and car owner Rick Hendrick collected an extra $129,200 in Unocal bonus money for total winnings of $229,025.
Jeff Gordon finished second, followed by Dale Earnhardt, Robert Pressley and Sterling Marlin as Chevys took the top five finishing spots. It was the first top-five sweep for a manufacturer since Ford did it at this track in the spring race 31 years ago.
``Everything worked out well for us all weekend,'' Labonte said. ``I didn't feel like we had the fastest car in practice, but we made some changes and won the pole. I didn't feel like we had the quickest car yesterday in [final] practice, but we made some changes on it this morning, made some great pit stops and everything went our way today.''
And so Labonte's record-tying, race-winning, special edition steel-gray Chevrolet Monte Carlo is headed for Hendrick's new race museum after one final stint as the backup car next weekend at Martinsville Speedway.
Although Labonte led the most laps - 167 - it was not an easy victory.
``There was somebody to race all day long,'' he said.
The final ``somebody'' was teammate Gordon, who dogged Labonte's rear bumper for the final 15 laps after the race's third and last yellow flag.
Gordon could have been more aggressive, but he never even touched Labonte in the final laps.
``Sure, anybody can put a bumper to you to pass, but what good would that do?'' Gordon said. ``I'm not going to do something to somebody that they hadn't already done to me. I just wanted to get him fair and square, and I couldn't do it.''
Said Labonte: ``I knew I couldn't give him an inch, but I was glad it was him behind me because I knew he was going to race me clean. I was a little concerned there to try to hold him off, but it was close.''
The key moment actually came on pit road during the final round of pit stops while the last yellow flag flew. Labonte was leading when he came in. And after a stop of 19.75 seconds, he was leading when he came out.
``Our spotter told the crew that if they beat [Gordon] off pit road, he'd buy them dinner,'' Labonte said. ``I knew I got there first. I knew I beat him by a foot. So our spotter is buying all the crew dinner. They made the difference. If Jeff had beat us off pit road, he'd be sitting up here.
``It was so hard to pass, especially with only 15 laps to go and everybody on new tires.''
The yellow flag flew on lap 375 after the wildest incident of a relatively clean race.
Geoff Bodine and John Andretti collided going into turn three just ahead of the leaders.
Rusty Wallace, who led 119 laps and was ahead at the time, picked the low route to try to get past Andretti. Gordon and Labonte went high.
But Andretti's car spun to the inside, and Wallace hit it head on.
``They slid all over the race track and there was nowhere to go,'' Wallace said. ``I'm not believing that one. In all the years I've been racing, that was the weirdest.''
The crash effectively knocked Wallace out of the race. He finished 33rd, 10 laps down.
``I saw a lot of smoke,'' said Labonte. ``The bottom of the track was clear. That's the way Rusty went and then that car came down to the bottom and then I went to the high side. So it was close.''
Coming into this race, Labonte had led 465.8 miles in the season's previous six races and was less than a mile behind Gordon, the leader in that statistic. But while Gordon had three wins, Labonte had none.
``We won three poles, and I would have traded all three of them for one win,'' Labonte said. ``We've had, I felt like, the best car more than once this year. But we had some trouble and just got outrun a couple of times.''
But when it seemed to mean the most, Labonte had the right stuff.
As Petty put it, ``If he's gonna tie the streak, then he might as well go ahead and win the race. That will be one way for him to remember the day.''
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Race leader Rusty Wallace (2) runs into Johnby CNBAndretti as Terry Labonte (5) avoids contact in Sunday's First Union
400. color. KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING