Fuel shortage can't stall strong run for Labonte

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- For half a gallon of gas, Joe Gibbs Racing figured fifth would be as good as first for Bobby Labonte at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday.

On the last lap of the Pepsi 400, Labonte drove his No. 18 Chevrolet to the right rear corner of leader Greg Biffle's No. 16 Ford heading into Turn 1 -- and promptly ran out of gas.

Labonte was good enough to coast around the race track and still finish fifth, behind first time winner Biffle, Jeff Burton, Ricky Rudd and Terry Labonte.

"The man that stayed out there won the race," Bobby Labonte's crew chief Michael McSwain defended his strategy that fell less than a lap short. "We pitted early just like Biffle did, the 5 car (Terry), and the 21 (Rudd). All of us had a plan together because we knew everybody else had to pit an extra time.

"We knew we were gonna end up all top-five cars to battle it out amongst ourselves. The 99 (Burton) we didn't count on, but we missed it by one lap"

	Bobby Labonte has 10 top-fives this year, the most of any driver. Credit: Autostock

Labonte, who was looking at improving his previous best Daytona finishes -- a pair of runner-up finishes in the 1998 Daytona 500 and Pepsi 400 -- agreed with McSwain's premise.

"No, I didn't realize we were that close on fuel," Labonte said. "I don't know how many laps we ran the time before, but I knew we were probably pretty close.

"I didn't realize we were going to run out of gas either. We had to go for it. I wasn't conserving fuel, but I wasn't using any extra either. We gave it all we had."

Labonte had to be pleased with the run, despite the frustrating outcome. He remained fourth in points, 255 behind leader Matt Kenseth and ended a bizarre string of finishes at Daytona that had seen him wrecked in accidents he had nothing to do with.

"It's about the first race I've finished here in three or four years without getting wrecked or turned upside down or having someone turn upside down on me," Labonte said. "I feel pretty good about that, and we did come home with a top-five.

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"We ran out of gas going into Turn 1 and coasted back around, so I can't complain about a whole lot. It's still a great finish for us."

Labonte said if Saturday night's race started a trend in which there was only one multi-car accident and few cautions, he wouldn't complain.

"Again, this probably isn't our best race track as far as restrictor-plate racing goes," he said. "Fatback (McSwain) did a great job making that call to pit and everything went right for us."

Until the last lap, and Biffle confirmed what he thought was going to happen.

"I didn't realize what was going on in the later part of the race -- why they were stopping 16 laps before us, but I realize now what had happened and it really paid off for us tonight," Biffle said. "I figured Bobby Labonte would get me there at the end. He's got a lot of experience at these superspeedways and this is my first year as a rookie in these cars.

"If Matt Kenseth wouldn't have stayed up there, Bobby would have definitely got me."

When Labonte faltered, Biffle was ecstatic.

"What a relief," Biffle said, "because I thought when Bobby got to my bumper I thought he would beat me, that I'd learn a lesson tonight and I'd finish second.

"But, fortunately enough, I don't think he would have got me even if he wouldn't have run out of gas. I held him off there a few laps and Matt Kenseth just backed off and didn't give him any help. It he would have had a car behind him, he would have been able to go by me on the top, I'm pretty sure."