History Says Labonte Has Inside Track

Even though Terry Labonte is clinging to the slimmest of leads in the Winston Cup point race, history shows the odds are good that he will win his second championship.

Fourteen times in the last 21 years, since the current point system was devised, the driver leading NASCAR’s top stock car division at this point in the season has gone on to win the title.

The last time that didn’t happen was 1992, when Bill Elliott lost a three-way battle to Alan Kulwicki, barely holding off Davey Allison for second.

Going into today’s MBNA 500 at Dover, Del., Labonte leads defending series champion Jeff Gordon by just four points. Dale Jarrett is 86 behind with seven races remaining in the 31-race schedule.

Labonte, who won his first title in 1984, has only one win this season and just 17 in his career, a fact that has some people criticizing his accomplishments.

But Labonte also has 36 second-place finishes, including 10 since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 1994. He has also won seven races in the No. 5 Hendrick car.

Six of those second-place finishes have come this season as part of 15 top fives and 18 top 10s for the consistent veteran.

“Obviously, we’d like to win every time we go out and it’s our goal to go to victory lane every time we race,” Labonte said. “But the Winston Cup point system also rewards consistency, and second place is almost as good as you can do on a given Sunday.”