Different endings for T. Labonte, J. Green

LONG POND, Pa. -- It was just past 6 p.m. ET when the No. 1 DEI crew of Jeff Green finally pulled out of the massive infield at Pocono Raceway.

They would have left a lot earlier had they finished third instead of 33rd. That's the cruel irony of Winston Cup racing.

As it was, their car was too badly damaged to roll on the hauler. It took the team nearly an hour to remove the twisted sheet metal and place the wounded chassis on a dolly for transport back to North Carolina.

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Only 200 feet away, the crew of Terry Labonte easily rolled the pristine No. 5 Chevrolet onto their hauler, and off they went -- with a fine seventh-place run in the books.

Cruel irony.

Less than 90 minutes earlier, the cars of Green and Labonte were racing nose-to-tail down the backstretch at Pocono.

Racing for seventh place. Racing for a finish both men needed in the worst way.

But the two tangled on lap 198, with Green spinning wildly into the grass before slamming nose-first into the guardrail, sending up a huge cloud of dirt.

Ironically, Green crashed in nearly the same spot Steve Park did in 2002 when he was driving the No. 1 Chevrolet.

Cruel irony, with one exception.

In that crash, Park's car slammed the guardrail and flipped onto its top.

After Park's crash, track officials created a huge dirt mound behind the inside rail. When Green crashed, his car didn't flip -- it bounced off the rail before coming to an abrupt start.

It was third hard crash of the day. On Lap 8, Ken Schrader lost his brakes and flipped wildly against the Turn 1 wall. On Lap 54, Dale Jarrett found the same wall after tire trouble.

Labonte went on to finish seventh for his third top-10 of the year. Green ended up 33rd for his seventh straight finish of 19th or worse.

After the accident, a visibly upset Green walked unassisted into the infield care center -- with only one shoe. He was released after about 20 minutes.

Crew chief Tony Gibson and DEI Director of Motorsports Steve Hmiel visited Green at the care center. Green had a small abrasion under his chin.

A spokesperson for Green said the driver would not issue a statement after the race. After he was released from the infield care center, Green was led to a waiting golf cart, and he left the track.

"I had a good run on him coming off of Turn 1," Labonte said of Green. "He pulled down to try to block me. I tried to go back to the outside of him to pass him, but I got into the back of him,and around he went.

"I hate it for him, because he was having a really good run and he's the last guy that I'd ever want to run into because he's a super guy."

The top-10 run was Labonte's second straight top-10 finish -- something he hadn't accomplished in over a year. It was also Labonte's eight straight finish of 21st or better.

During that time, Labonte has climbed from 31st in the standings to 17th, putting him on track for his best points finish since 2000.