Bobby Labonte Wins the Brickyard 400 as Older Brother’s Longevity Streak Ends

John Sturbin

Sunday, Aug. 6, 2000 | 10:18 a.m.

INDIANAPOLIS - Fate linked Texas' Labonte brothers yesterday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Bobby Labonte's landmark Brickyard 400 victory was framed against the abrupt end of Terry Labonte's historic "Iron Man" streak.

Bobby Labonte, the NASCAR Winston Cup points leader, chased down, rubbed fenders against and passed Rusty Wallace within a few harrowing seconds on Lap 146 of 160 around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"Trust me, it's hard to pass here, and that was a "pass"," said Labonte, who nosed his car under Wallace's in the short chute between turns 3 and 4 of the 2.5-mile rectangular oval. They exited Turn 4 side by side and momentarily traded paint - Labonte's right front fender banging Wallace's left rear quarter. Labonte squeezed ahead before the start/finish line, but his lead over Wallace was timed at 0.004 seconds as they barreled toward Turn 1.

"I was puckered up on that one," Labonte said, "because when I got to Turn 1, I wasn't sure what was going to happen."

Running in clean air, Labonte cleared Wallace and methodically stretched his lead to nearly five seconds en route to his second victory of 2000 and the 14th of his Cup career.

Among those greeting him on pit road was big brother Terry, who spent a subdued day in the pits with his Hendrick Motorsports team. Suffering dizziness from a concussion suffered in a wreck at the Daytona International Speedway last month, Terry Labonte decided Friday he was unfit to compete at IMS. His voluntary decision not to race ended a streak of 655 consecutive series starts dating to February 1979 and covering the length of his Cup career.

Bobby Labonte, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Pontiac Grand Prix, said he managed only a quick moment with his brother on the way to Victory Lane.

"It was a little hard to talk to him," said Bobby, his voice beginning to crack with emotion. "I grabbed him and about drug him down to Victory Lane. Streaks are numbers, and the number came to an end. It's definitely sad in a lot of ways ... it's all good, though."

Terry Labonte concurred, aware that Bobby had boosted not only his stature but also his championship points lead to 87 over reigning Cup champion Dale Jarrett.

"I watched him 1/4 RBobby 1/4 S the whole race, and I was real nervous the last few laps," said Terry, the older of the brothers from Corpus Christi. "I kept my fingers crossed. Rusty and him were much better than anybody else, but anything can happen."

That is exactly why Terry Labonte opted to sit out the race, even when he could have kept the streak alive by starting and completing one lap in the No. 5 Kellogg's Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

"I made my mind up that I was stepping out, and nothing changed my mind," Terry Labonte said. "Todd Bodine did a great job for us 1/4 Rfinishing 15th 1/4 S. We worked real hard. Well, I didn't. I just sat back and watched. I guess with Bobby winning the race, it was a good way for it to end. But I hate that I didn't get to race."

Actually, the one-on-one duel between Bobby Labonte and Wallace provided the only real drama on a track where single-file racing remains the norm. Wallace did his part to stink it up, leading four times for a race-high 110 laps. Labonte was runner-up in that category, with 21 laps led.

"Second stinks, it really does," said Wallace, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Taurus. "I lost the race in '95 to 1/4 R Dale 1/4 S Earnhardt when I led all day long and they had a wreck on pit road and I got hung up behind him, so I lost that one kind of by a weird deal. But today, I just got outrun the last 25 laps."

Wallace said his car began to tighten up - making it difficult to turn through corners - once cloud cover cooled the track.

"There was nothing I could do about it," Wallace said. "I knew Turn 3 was my weakest all day long. He kept getting me in Turn 3, and I'd get him in Turn 1. I'd get him off of Turn 4, and I'd get him down the straightaways. I just had super-big horsepower today, but I was just too slow entering Turn 3 and he got up underneath me there. Once we got side by side down the front straightaway and we were still past the start/finish line side by side, there's just no way to go two-wide into Turn 1. So I had to get out of it."

The official margin of victory was 4.229 seconds, with Wallace trailed home by Bill Elliott, Jerry Nadeau and Indiana native Tony Stewart. Labonte's winning speed of 155.918 mph was an event record. Earnhardt held the previous record of 155.218 set in 1995.

A past winner of NASCAR's longest race, the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Bobby Labonte said victory in the series' richest race was special.

"When we're sitting in the cabin one day when we're done and retired, we'll say, 'Hey, remember that day when we won the Brickyard 400?' " Labonte said. "Nobody will remember it by then, but hopefully somebody will and we'll be able to talk about it. That's one that you talk about." nn