Bobby Labonte - 2001-2005

2001-2005

In 2001, Labonte began the year with a 7th place finish in the Bud Shootout. At the Daytona 500, he and teammate Tony Stewart were two of eighteen cars wrecked in a crash on lap 173. Labonte's hood broke off and got attached to Stewart's flipping car. After getting out of his car, Labonte was seen checking on Stewart to make sure he was okay. The accident was overshadowed by Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash on the last lap of the same race.

The following week, at Rockingham, Labonte was narrowly beaten to the finish line by Steve Park in a rain-delayed Dura Lube 400. He did not have another top-ten finish until the Virginia 500 at Martinsville, where he finished in eighth, followed by a fifth place finish in the Talladega 500. His next top-ten was a fifth place finish at the Coca-Cola 600. After less successful finishes at Dover and Michigan, Labonte had an 8th place finish at Pocono and 7th place finish at Sonoma, and a 5th place finish at the Pepsi 400. At the end of July, Labonte won his first points-race of the year in the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono.

After the win, Labonte's next top ten was a ninth-place run at Watkins Glen, then 8th and 3rd place runs at Bristol and Darlington, and 6th place at Richmond. He did not have back-to-back top-10s again until the fall races at Charlotte and Martinsville, finishing 10th and 4th respectively.

At Talladega in the fall, Labonte started 34th. He managed to work his way up the field and took the lead on lap 107. He led for 23 laps before falling back in the pack. He retook the lead on lap 184, but then was involved in a frightening last lap crash. After leading three laps, Labonte was leading at the white flag on the outside lane. Going into turn 1, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. overtook Labonte in the lower groove, bringing Tony Stewart and Jeff Burton with him. Labonte moved up the track, trying to block Bobby Hamilton, but coming onto the back straightaway, Hamilton tapped him from behind. Labonte made contact with Johnny Benson, Jr. - sending Benson into the outside wall - and then spun, flipping over and skidding partway down the track on his roof. The wreck also collected Jason Leffler, Sterling Marlin, Robby Gordon, Mike Wallace, Ricky Craven, Terry Labonte, Buckshot Jones, Ricky Rudd, Ward Burton, and more.

Labonte's next top-ten was a ninth place finish at Rockingham. After winning at Atlanta and a third place finish at a postponed New Hampshire 300, he finished sixth in the final points standings.

In 2002, Labonte only had 1 win, which was at Martinsville in the spring. He also drove a 9/11 Tribute car in 2002 with the phrase "Let's Roll" on the hood of this stock car. It was his first career short track win at Martinsville. He went on to finish 16th in the final points, and failed to finish in the top 10 for the first time since 1996, while teammate Stewart went on to win the championship.

In 2003, Labonte rebounded and finished 8th in the standings after winning 2 races ( Atlanta and Homestead ). Also Bobby went on a tear during the spring with 3 straight 2nd-place finishes.

In 2004, Bobby did not win a race for the first time since 1994. Labonte finished 12th in the standings.

2005 saw much of the same. Bobby fell out of the top 20 in points, and only had 4 top-5s, one of which was a dramatic 2nd at Lowes Motor Speedway. He also went on to race some truck series events, which included a win at Martinsville. His win there made him join an elite group of drivers that have won in all 3 divisions at one track. In fact, with his win, he became the first driver to do so. He also ran the 24 Hours of Daytona road race, sharing a car with his brother Terry, Jan Magnussen and Bryan Herta. After the disappointing 2005 season, Bobby asked and was granted to be released from Joe Gibbs Racing, having spent the last eleven seasons there. Bobby joined the Petty Enterprises to drive the famous #43.