Labonte wins at Pocono

[MountaineerTom]

From thatsracin.com

Todays race was a very good one.  Especially the last half in my opinion.

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LONG POND, Pa. - Bobby Labonte said he felt Saturday he might be close to securing his first Winston Cup victory of the season.

"I told (crew chief) Jimmy (Makar) I see light at the end of the tunnel, we just need to find out if it was a train or not," said Labonte.

Not this time.

The light he did find was glowing Sunday from the "Tunnel Turn" - Turn 2 at the 2.5-mile triangular shaped Pocono Raceway.

It was there Labonte caught race leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Lap 198 of the 200-lap race, peeked low then went high around Earnhardt's No. 8 Chevrolet, completing a pass for the lead.

Labonte spent the final two laps putting distance between himself and Earnhardt and took the win by 1.68 seconds to claim victory in Sunday's Pennsylvania 500 - his first win since Charlotte in October. Labonte's teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, Tony Stewart, was third; Bill Elliott, fourth; and Johnny Benson rounded out the top five.

"I wanted it pretty bad because it's been a while since we've been able to be that close to a checkered flag without 15 cars passing before us," said Labonte, last season's series champion. "No doubt we wanted it really bad.

"I think when we got by (Earnhardt) it obviously took the wind out of his sails. He was being pursued that whole time, trying to hit his marks just right and I was catching him. I felt pretty good that our car was going to be good toward the end of the run."

Earnhardt admitted to having a difficult time with his emotions after the race.

"It's discouraging to lose on the last few laps like that. I'd have giving anything for a top-three finish with 80 or 70 laps to go in this race today, so to finish second now just shows that we've got some momentum going and it shows that we're really improving as a team," he said.

"I would have really liked to have won that race today to show how strong we are, but I think we will down the road."

While Labonte navigated his way to victory, the three drivers in the best position to claim this year's title faced wild changes in fortune.

Jeff Gordon dominated much of Sunday's event, leading the most laps (121) and at times enjoying leads ranging from four to 10 seconds. But it didn't last.

After making a green-flag pit stop on Lap 135 and hoping for continued long runs, a caution came out on Lap 144 that allowed several teams who had not yet pitted, to pit under yellow. Caution again came out on Lap 158, when Jarrett hit the wall, ending his day early.

All race leaders but Gordon - who had pitted earlier than the others - only took gas, while he needed fresher tires as well. That left him back in 21st on the restart, where he could not make it back in contention. He ended up eighth, with Rudd in 11th, not far behind.

The result? Gordon sits alone in first in the points race, with a 45-point advantage over Rudd, who is now second. Jarrett is third, 107 behind Gordon. Stewart remains in fourth, but made up little ground, and is 261 behind the leader.

"It doesn't change anything," Jarrett said. "I mean, we race just like we have been racing, you don't do anything different."

For Labonte and his team, Sunday's win was a reminder they had not lost what it took to get them where they were last season.

"It's a very good feeling to know that we haven't forgotten how to win and that we know how to come back from adversity and win a race after we've been down and out," said Makar. "It's relief, yes, but it's more a feeling of `We're back' and we can go race now and be competitive every week."