Third Time Around, Labonte Races Past Gordon

Bobby Labonte turned the tables on Jeff Gordon, finally beating the younger driver in their third head-to-head battle of the season to win the Miller Genuine Draft 400 on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway at Brooklyn, Mich.

The 23-year-old Gordon, who beat Labonte, 31, on the way to two early-season victories, took advantage of a restart after a caution period just 17 laps from the end of the 200-lap event to make a move for the lead.

Gordon tapped the rear of Labonte’s Chevrolet Monte Carlo as the two raced to the flagstand, then drove his Chevy hard to the outside and got past Labonte as they charged into the first turn of the two-mile, high-banked oval.

Labonte refused to panic, though, biding his time and making his own pass in turn two on lap 188 look easy as he retook the lead for good.This time, though, Labonte, whose first Winston Cup victory came on May 28 in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, was able to hold him off. Gordon did pull alongside on lap 192, but was unable to get past.

“Jeff’s awful tough,” Labonte said. “He snookered me on that restart, you know. He’s been doing this up-front stuff a lot longer than I have.

“He got me sideways coming off (turn) four and got by me on the restart. I couldn’t race him in the corner and there wasn’t any sense in running side by side with that many laps left. We just held on and I got him back when they threw the (next) yellow. Next time I protected my line off four.”

Team owner Joe Gibbs, the former Washington Redskins coach who hired Labonte at the start of this season, said, “Bobby came in behind Jeff twice earlier this year and I think beating him like this is really good for Bobby. I know it’s good for me and the rest of our team.”

The winner crossed the finish line 0.27 seconds - about three car-lengths - ahead. Labonte, who averaged 134.141 mph, earned $84,080 for the victory.

Dale Earnhardt, who came into the 14th of 31 Winston Cup races this season with a 77-point lead in the standings, crashed on lap 128. Earnhardt, the two-time defending series champion, had the wind knocked out of him and came away with a sore knee, but was otherwise uninjured.

His 35th-place finish, combined with Sterling Marlin’s seventh, moved Marlin into the points lead by six over Earnhardt. Gordon remained third, but cut his deficit from 123 to 12 points.

Minutes after the end of the race, Michael Waltrip, who finished just behind Lake Speed in 12th, cut off Speed’s car on the pit lane, forcing him to stop.

Waltrip, whose team said Speed nearly put their driver in the wall while passing him late in the race, climbed out of his Pontiac, strode to Speed’s car, calmly unhooked the window net and appeared to throw two right-handed punches into the car. He then walked away as Speed remained in the car.

Speed later said the punches were openhanded slaps to the side of his helmet.

Andretti’s team takes second

At Le Mans, France, Mario Andretti came up a little short of his incredible goal, but had a good time in pursuit of it.

“Of the drivers up on the podium, I would say we had the most fun,” Andretti said after he and French teammates Bob Wollek and Eric Helary combined to finish second in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Defending champion Yannick Dalmas was part of the winning team for the third time.

The McLaren BMW F1 GTR, co-driven by Dalmas, J.J. Lehto of Finland and Massanori Sekiya of Japan, held on to win by 3 minutes. Their victory kept the 55-year-old Andretti from joining Graham Hill as a winner of Le Mans, the Indianapolis 500 and the Formula One championship.

Just before dark Saturday night, Andretti skidded while coming up behind a car, spun and hit a wall. His Courage-Porsche C34 had damage on the right side and rear wheel and lost its rear wing.

Andretti, now retired from the IndyCar circuit, was trailing the Dalmas car by about a minute when he hit the wall on the 8.45-mile road course. He made it back to the pits, but the car was out of action for 30 minutes and lost six laps while repairs were made.

The car made steady progress throughout the next 20 hours. Wollek was at the wheel in the final segment of the world’s most prestigious endurance event.

The winning car covered 298 laps (2,520 miles) as the wet conditions slowed speeds.