THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Monday, October 31, 1994               TAG: 9410310156
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: C5   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: PHOENIX                            LENGTH: Medium:   85 lines

LABONTE'S MAKING A HABIT OF IT HIS VICTORY AT PHOENIX MARKED THE 1ST TIME HE'S WON 3 WINSTON CUP RACES IN A

SEASON.

After winning his third race of the 1994 Winston Cup season Sunday, Terry Labonte was obviously getting used to the thrill of victory.

``Wave at the crowd, Terry,'' a crewman told him moments after he took the checkered flag in the Slick 50 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Labonte was thinking of other things.

``How about bringing me some water. I'm thirsty,'' he said laconically. ``And a wet rag. And sunglasses.''

He paused for a moment.

``And where's Victory Lane at? I don't even know.''

His crew quickly gave him directions, and in a few moments Labonte was celebrating, with more certainty than ever, the revival of a once-stalled career.

Prior to his victory in April at North Wilkesboro, Labonte had not won a race since 1990. And he had never won more than two races a year, even in his 1984 Winston Cup championship season.

But this season, Labonte, who began driving full time in the Winston Cup series in 1979, has three victories. And he upped his career total to 13.

``The biggest difference this season is with this team,'' he said. ``We've got good engines and good cars. We've got a great car owner (in Rick Hendrick). He gives us everything we need to work with.

``For me, it was really a dream come true to drive for Rick. I knew he had a great team with some really good people, and I knew how hard they work.''

Labonte led 112 of the 312 laps and beat Mark Martin to the finish line by 3.09 seconds. Pole-winner Sterling Marlin was third, the only other driver on the lead lap.

Jeff Gordon was fourth, followed by Ted Musgrave, who had his career-best finish, Kyle Petty and Ricky Rudd, all a lap down.

Geoff Bodine quietly worked his way through the field to finish eighth. Dale Jarrett was ninth and Darrell Waltrip 10th.

``I tell you what, my hat's off to Terry Labonte,'' Martin said. ``We were awesome today in the pits, had a great engine, handled good and we were checked out on the next car. But he just whipped us today.''

Labonte, who started 19th, didn't ruffle anyone's feathers for the first half of the race.

``I was really a little concerned, starting as far back as I did,'' he said. ``I just knew that I had to be careful and not get into trouble. So I was really probably a little cautious and I actually lost a couple of positions on the start, just trying to let everything get sorted out.''

But by lap 40 he had cracked the top 10 and by lap 70 he was dicing with Martin and Gordon as they tried to get past Rudd, who led all but six of the first 100 laps.

During the second 100 laps, Labonte was content to ride behind Martin, who led 84 of them. Labonte didn't take the lead until he got past Martin on lap 192. After that, it was all over. He was in front for 104 of the last 105 circuits around this 1-mile track.

``Early in the race, we really weren't as good as Mark was and some of the others,'' Labonte said. ``I think about halfway through the race, the track came to us a little bit.''

Labonte's pit stops also were close to flawless Sunday, unlike during his victory at Richmond last month, when his crew kept losing his lead with slow stops.

``They've been working on that very hard,'' Labonte said. ``And we had some really fast stops. I think all the stops they had today were really good. . . couple.''

There were four crashes Sunday, none after lap 123. But at least one driver was hot under the collar after the race.

Rusty Wallace's 17th-place finish was due in part to a stop-and-go penalty for speeding on pit road midway through the race.

``They said I was speeding, which is bull,'' Wallace said. ``But I learned you can't argue with them. I can't believe they're screwing around with misdemeanors when it comes to two cars racing for second place in this points thing. But then again, they like to see everything tight. So I totally disagree with it.

``I think they're very inconsistent when it comes to using their hand-held stopwatches'' to check for speeding on pit road. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo

Terry Labonte led 112 laps in winning the Slick 50 500 by more than

three seconds over Mark Martin.

by CNB