Notebook: Late wreck victimizes Labonte

SPEEDWAY, Ind. -- Attrition was down during Sunday's Brickyard 400, until a seven-car pileup on lap 145 wiped out several lead-lap cars.

	Joe Nemechek Credit: Autostock

Kurt Busch bumped Terry Labonte and turned the No. 5 Chevy sideways in the north short chute. With nowhere to go, Sterling Marlin, Ricky Rudd, Johnny Benson, Mike Skinner and Joe Nemechek were all collected.

"I really couldn't tell why or what caused it, but I noticed everybody's tires looked like they had picked up the loose rubber on the racetrack and everybody was slipping and sliding a little bit for a couple of laps," Rudd said.

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Just like Busch's opinion of Jimmy Spencer a year ago, Labonte wasn't complimentary of Busch this time around.

"(Busch) drives off the end of the hood," Labonte said. "He can't see past his ears."

What caused the accident, Terry?

"I don't know," Labonte said. "I don't have eyes in the back of my head. I have mirrors, but not eyes."

Early birthday gift

Jeff Gordon, who turns 32 on Monday, started 19th and wound up fourth, thanks to some smart pit strategy.

"I told the team before the race started that we were going to fight until the checkered flag fell," Gordon said. "We were digging all day long. It was a miserable weekend for us until we got that fourth-place finish right there. It was a great birthday for me."

Earnhardt Jr. couldn't get up front

Dale Earnhardt Jr. moved up from his 36th starting position into the top 20 before problems in the pits killed his momentum. He still rallied to finish 14th.

	Dale Earnhardt Jr. Credit: Autostock

"It was good early, but we got out of pit sequence," Earnhardt said. "We just fought track position all day.

"Once we got out of sequence, it just killed us. We had a tire that had a vibration, so that's why we made the extra stop. We went from 23rd to 14th after that, so I'm not all that upset about it."

No two in a row for Elliott

Defending Brickyard 400 winner Bill Elliott started third and led eight laps in the early stages of Sunday's race. But things quickly fell apart from there.

"In the middle of the race, we were terrible," Elliott said. "We ran out of gas, and I wasn't very good either."

Elliott battled back to finish fifth, dodging several cars on the hectic final restart at the end.

VIDEO CLIPS Green flag Play video Dale Jarrett's jackman is hit Play video John Andretti crashes on Lap 47 Play video A seven-car accident bunches the field with 16 laps to go Play video Kevin Harvick pulls away in the final laps Play video Victory Lane Play video Hear from the top finishers at Indianapolis Play video

"It felt like I passed half the pack on those last nine laps," he said. "I don't know what NASCAR thinks, but why not at these long racetracks run one more lap, let us line up and leave lapped cars that have already run 149 laps and let us get going for nine laps at the end."

Spencer winds up eighth

Spencer was estatic about posting a eighth-place finish after starting 32nd.

"The team stayed at it all day and we made the necessary changes to get better," Spencer said. "We'll take another top 10. The last five races have been very good to us. We haven't dropped out, and we've picked up some points.

"Anytime you get a top-10 anywhere, it's a good day."

Dude, where's my horsepower?

Once again, Petty Enterprises had a weekend to forget. Kyle Petty finished 40th, 19 laps off the pace, while Christian Fittipaldi failed to qualify.

"It felt terrible today," Petty said. "We have no motor, no motor, no motor. We need to find a motor somewhere."