Labonte Fourth at Daytona
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 7, 2003) – Driving the No. 5 Kellogg’s / got milk? Chevrolet, Terry Labonte finished fourth at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, earning his 25th top-10 finish at the 2.5-mile tri-oval in his 50th career DIS start.
The two-time NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion has posted four top-10 finishes in the last five events, moving up four full positions in the driver standings to 13th during that span.
Labonte, who started Saturday’s Pepsi 400 in 25th, relied on the pit strategy of crew chief Jim Long as the race came down to fuel mileage.
“It was hard to get track position, so we tried to do it on pit strategy a little bit, just getting two tires, stuff like that,” Labonte said. “We were getting good enough mileage that we tried and played the mileage game and topped off there on that one caution flag so we could stretch it and just make one stop, and some of the guys had to make two.
“We’ve had some really good runs. We’ve got a really strong team. These guys on this Kellogg’s team are doing a great job. They're bringing good cars to the race track every week, and that's what it takes.”
After qualifying third on Friday, Jeff Gordon finished 14th in the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, sliding one position in the standings to third overall after 17 races. The four-time series champion is just 23 points behind second-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. and 203 back of leader Matt Kenseth.
Team Lowe’s Racing finished 18th and moved up one slot in the standings to sixth, just 80 markers out of the top five. Driver Jimmie Johnson qualified 11th at Daytona on Friday and started his third career race at “The World Center of Racing” on Saturday.
Driving the No. 25 UAW-Delphi Monte Carlo, Joe Nemechek made a strong run before being collected in a seven-car melee on Lap 75 after the No. 97 of Kurt Busch blew a tire in Turn 2. Team 25 was forced into the garage for repairs, finishing 38th after completing 113 of 160 laps.
Nemechek is currently 22nd in championship points.
The NASCAR Winston Cup Series will next visit the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., on Sunday, July 13. Catch the Tropicana 400 live on MRN Radio and NBC beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.