Clearly Pontiac's best team and its only conceivable shot for now at a Winston Cup championship. Labonte won twice in 1998, but failed to finish six races to wreck any chance of finishing better than sixth in points. Everyone seems convinced that this team will eventually have a breakout year where everything comes together.
Career
Closed out the 1997 season
by earning fifth career victory in NAPA 500 at Atlanta. Topped Pontiac
teams with seventh-place finish in points and won $2,217,999, his career
best. Won three poles, finished in top five nine times and in top 10 in 18
races. Car failed to finish only one race all season.
Labonte established himself in 1996 as one of the top drivers on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, narrowly missing a place in the year-end top-10 after claiming a win and four poles.
Capped the year with a win at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the NAPA 500 after starting from the pole. He also scored 14 top-10s and 5 top-5s.
Bobby, younger of the Labonte brothers, finished 1995 with three victories and a top-ten finish in the Winston Cup standings.
He stood in victory circle of the circuit's longest race, Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Labonte climbed as high as eighth on the points charts after wins at Michigan International Speedway in June and August. However, after a 37 place finish at Phoenix he slipped to 10th.
Drove two seasons for Bill Davis, posting eight top-10 finishes. NASCAR Busch Grand National champion in 1991. Runner-up by three points to Joe Nemechek for 1992 BGN title.
Started racing quarter-midgets in Texas in 1969, Go-Karts in '78, Late Model Stock cars in '86, Late Model Sportsman in '88 and BGN in 1990. Showed promise in 1987, winning Late Model Stock championship at Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, N.C., with 12 wins, seven poles and 20 top fives in 23 races. 1990 BGN Most Popular Driver with five wins, four poles.
First Winston Cup start, Peak 500 at Dover in 1991. First career pole, fall Richmond '93, 24th start. Career-best fifth-place finish at '94 Watkins Glen. Finished 19th in '93 Winston Cup standings, 21st in '94.
Sources: NASCAR Press Guides, Star and News staff reports.
