Hendrick Motorsports, 40 wins in 40 days: Terry Labonte, Dale Earnhardt tangle at Bristol in 1995

Editor’s note: This is the fifth in a 40-part series highlighting 40 of the greatest wins in the history of Hendrick Motorsports to finish its 40th anniversary season. A new installment will be released each day from Nov. 22, 2024 through New Year’s Eve. Votes were taken from Hendrick Motorsports employees as well as representatives of the NASCAR Hall of Fame and Racing Insights with all unanimous selections being ushered in automatically. The remaining wins were deliberated and decided upon by a small panel. 

CONCORD, N.C. - Terry Labonte could see the perfect storm developing both out of his windshield and in the rearview mirror. 

In front was a developing battle for ninth place between Mike Wallace and Jeff Burton. Behind, the dreaded front bumper of Dale Earnhardt's black No. 3 Chevrolet, and it was getting bigger and bigger by the second. 

The gap back to Earnhardt was 1.5 seconds with four laps to go. It was 1.3 the next time around. It fell to one second flat with two to go. 

The rest? Well, it lives on in NASCAR lore and in a highlight reel that resurfaces any time the NASCAR Cup Series heads back to the half-mile, high-banked Bristol Motor Speedway.

“I knew they were racing for position. They were both in the top 10. I understood, but I was thinking, ‘Man, I wish you guys weren’t right here,’" Labonte said via phone interview last week. "And I knew Dale was going to run into me. If you didn’t think he was, you were an idiot.” 

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS 40 WINS: Kyle Larson wins 2021 championship at Phoenix

Sure enough, as Labonte inched up to the lapped traffic, Burton dived to the inside of Wallace, stalling the much faster Labonte and allowing Earnhardt to close rapidly. And suddenly, entering turn three with the checkers waving just ahead, Earnhardt was there ... 

But before getting to that race-deciding, historically preserved moment in front of a packed house and flashing bulbs in Bristol, a little background is needed. 

Few could've known it at the time, but in the summer of 1995, Hendrick Motorsports was on the front stoop, about to kick the door in on a championship for the first time. Jeff Gordon would reign supreme that year, but the organization's first Cup Series title was only a precursor to what would become one of the most dominant four-year stretches in the sport's history. Labonte would go on to follow Gordon's championship with one of his own in 1996. Then Gordon pummeled the field for his second title in 1997 and then somehow one-upped himself, winning 13 races en route to a third in arguably the most dominant season in the modern era in 1998. 

Again, no one could've known then, but Earnhardt, who'd won his seventh and final championship in 1994, was having the torch wrestled away from him by a California kid (Gordon) and an unassuming, steady-handed veteran from Corpus Christi, Texas, in Labonte. 

The turning of that tide could be as accurately measured at Bristol as anywhere. From 1995-1998, Gordon and Labonte combined for five wins, 11 top fives and 14 top 10s in 16 combined starts. That included a pair of 1-2 finishes with Gordon prevailing each time. 

“We just had pretty fast cars at Bristol," Labonte said. "We were always up toward the front.”

While Gordon's rocket ride from hot-shot prospect to multi-time champion came with its share of high expectations, Labonte's rise back to prominence with the No. 5 team was perhaps a little more unexpected. On one hand, Labonte was a former Cup Series champion, claiming a title in 1984 while driving for Hagan Racing, but the years leading up to his arrival at Hendrick Motorsports in 1994 were lean at best. He'd gone four full seasons without a victory, finally ending a 135-race drought at North Wilkesboro Speedway that season. 

"I think I joined Hendrick Motorsports when I was 38 years old, that’s unheard of," Labonte said. "And for me to get an opportunity like that - I wanted an opportunity to win another championship and I was able to accomplish it at Hendrick Motorsports." 

But before that elusive second championship came some much-needed victories. He followed North Wilkesboro with two more in 1994, winning at Richmond Raceway and Phoenix Raceway. Labonte took the checkered flag in the third race of 1995, back at Richmond, and added a second victory at Pocono. He entered Bristol with momentum, finishing fifth at Watkins Glen International and second at Michigan International Speedway in the two events prior. 

RELATED: Terry Labonte reflects on Earnhardt, Bristol, Hendrick Motorsports legacy

That carried into Bristol weekend. Labonte qualified on the outside of the front row, next to pole-sitter Mark Martin, and was a stalwart in the top five all evening long. 

The race was notable for several reasons and not only its thrilling conclusion. First, the event was delayed by rain and finished in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Second, track records were set as 15 cautions flew for a total of 106 caution laps. 

And it was also competitive from the drop of the green flag. Six drivers would lead at least 50 of the 500 laps that evening (Dale Jarrett 99, Gordon 86, Earnhardt 81, Labonte 69, Martin 57 and Jeremy Mayfield 55). All 69 of Labonte's circuits paced came to end the race as he finally snatched the lead away from Jarrett after applying pressure for over 30 laps. 

RELATED: See all of Terry Labonte's wins at Hendrick Motorsports

At the point of that pass, Earnhardt was largely an afterthought. He'd helped bring out the event's final caution after turning Lake Speed into the wall with 114 laps remaining. While the leaders stayed out, Earnhardt was forced to pit in order to negotiate damage on the front of his car and to try and fix an overheating issue. 

While making a couple of stops in that caution period, Earnhardt also took tires. With the rest of the race going green, the newer rubber became a bigger advantage as he worked his way through the top 10 with increasing pace. He passed Jarrett for second place with 13 laps to go, making up a half lap on the field in the process. 

Still, Labonte seemed safe until the lapped Burton and Wallace came into view. In the final corner, Labonte caught Burton and Earnhardt caught Labonte. 

“It came down on that last lap. I caught them and I’m like, ‘Oh boy,’" Labonte said. "I came off of turn four, Dale got in the back of me and I just stayed in the gas. I knew I could beat him to the line but I had no idea where I was going to end up after that.” 

As Earnhardt's bumper tapped Labonte's left rear, he turned slightly left, overcorrected right, slid across the finish line and made head-on contact with the wall. And yet, somehow, Labonte was able to get it straightened after spinning down into turn one and limped the smashed Kellogg's Corn Flakes machine into victory lane. 

RELATED: Relive all of Jeff Gordon's victories at Hendrick Motorsports

“We were standing there getting our pictures made in victory lane and all the sudden it’s like, ‘Hey, the ground is slippery,’” Labonte laughed. “We were standing in oil. Which tells you how damaged the car was.”

Those pictures depicting the No. 5 team standing alongside a crumpled Chevy Monte Carlo have long gone down in the annals of the organization's history. 

It wouldn't be the last time Labonte and Earnhardt would tussle on the last lap at Bristol. But on that night, Labonte got the better end of the confrontation and now, just short of 30 years later, he gladly embraces the finish's place in NASCAR lore. 

“It made for some cool highlights,” Labonte concluded. “Gosh, all these years later and they still show it all the time. That’s pretty cool.”