Labonte Ends Top-10 Draught - Finishes Ninth at Phoenix
AVONDALE, Ariz., Sunday, Nov. 7, 2004 – Bobby Labonte scored his first top-10 finish in nearly four months Nov. 7 when he finished ninth in the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the event, while Labonte scored his best finish since July 3 at Daytona when he finished seventh in the Pepsi 400. “We had a pretty good car all day,” Labonte said. “We didn’t have to change too many things on the car, and we were able to pass people, which has been difficult this year. We would have liked to have finished a little bit better, but we’ll take the top-10 for sure.”
Labonte started the event in 27th place, but quickly began moving through the field and was 13th by the time the first caution came out for Hermie Sadler’s stalled car on Lap 77. Labonte continued in the top-20 and was in 17th-place when light rain caused the race to be stopped for 20 minutes on Lap 110. When the race resumed, Labonte worked his way into the top-10 when he encountered slight problems during a pit stop on Lap 146. Three lugnuts, which hold the wheels on the car, stuck during the pit stop, causing the stop to last longer than normal and Labonte came out of the pits in 19th. However, he was back in the top 10 by Lap 179 and took the lead during a pit-stop cycle on Lap 225. After pitting under caution and after all cars had completed their stops, Labonte found himself in seventh-place with less than 100 laps to go.
He remained in the top 10 throughout the remainder of the race and was in seventh-place when the red-flag was displayed on Lap 309 after Casey Mears’ accident in Turn 1. NASCAR officials decided to use the green/white/checker finish, thus stopping the race to ensure the final two laps are conducted under green. Labonte fell to ninth on the restart, but wound up with a much-needed top-10 finish. He remains 15th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup point standings with 4,007 points. He is 20 points behind 14th-place Kevin Harvick and 284 points ahead of 16th-place Jeff Burton. The next NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series event is the Southern 500 Nov. 14 at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, S.C. Labonte finished second there in the spring. The race starts at 1 p.m. (EST), and will be broadcast live on NBC and MRN.
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