Bobby Labonte finished 12th in the 2004 Nextel Cup Series. Credit: Autostock

In Review: B. Labonte

Normally consistent 2000 champ all over the map in '04

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Bobby Labonte would just as soon forget about the 2004 season.

For the first time since 1994, the year before he joined Joe Gibbs Racing, Labonte didn't win.

2004 Nextel Cup Series •   Results •   Standings •   Best 25 Over Last Six Races •   Best Starts •   Best Finishes

But the bigger disappointment may have been Labonte's failure to make the Chase for the Nextel Cup. As high as fourth in the points standings, Labonte suffered a mid-season swoon that knocked him out of the top 10 and out of the race for the Nextel Cup championship.

"It's disappointing," Labonte said after the season-finale at Homestead. "I think we finished 12th in points, which is better than we were two weeks ago, 15th. We had good and bad, and guys worked real hard.

"It wasn't from a lack of effort. Just came up short. Had good cars a few times and didn't capitalize on it. Didn't get it earlier in the year either, so it wasn't meant to be, I guess."

Labonte and interim crew chief Brandon Thomas never quite clicked. Credit: Autostock

The Chase for the Nextel Cup came a year too late for Labonte, who was firmly entrenched in the top 10 a season ago.

But 2004 was another story, at least the second half of the year. Despite some nagging inconsistency, Labonte was 10th in points after 10 races, thanks in part to a pair of runner-up finishes at Darlington and Martinsville.

Five races - and three top-10 finishes -- later, Labonte was fourth in the points. With 11 races left to get in the Chase, Labonte seemed a lock.

But behind the scenes, something was wrong. And by mid-July, crew chief Michael "Fatback" McSwain was gone.

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He was replaced on an interim basis by engineer Brandon Thomas, but the decision to fire McSwain may have been the death knell to Labonte's Chase chances.

Labonte finished 17th in Thomas' first race as crew chief, and things went downhill from there. Labonte crashed at Pocono the next week, finished 15th at Indianapolis, 11th at Watkins Glen, 26th at Michigan, 16th at Bristol and 20th at California -- the latter race dropping Labonte out of the top 10.

And in the last chance to get back in the Chase, Labonte finished one lap down on 16th.

But Labonte said the crew chief switch wasn't why he slipped from the top 10.

Labonte crashed out at Pocono in early August. Credit: Autostock

"I think we were going downhill before that," Labonte said. "I hated that we had to do that, but it was something that needed to be done, whether we made the top 10 or didn't. We knew that decision had to be made. It's just unfortunate for us that it turned out that way because it looks like people will point fingers at that. That really wasn't the problem."

What was? That's difficult to pinpoint. For sure, it isn't reliability. Labonte completed the most laps of any driver in 2004, running 10,590 of 10,755 laps. Reminiscent of his championship season of 2000 when he was running at the end of every race, Labonte had only two DNFs in 2004.

Labonte had some speed, too, winning a pole at Texas. But consistency was almost non-existent, especially in the second half. Labonte had back-to-back top-fives only once, and that was early in the year.

In the second half, Labonte didn't have a single top-five finish, and his only two top-10s came late in the year.

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"We've got to get back to that consistency," Labonte said. "We've got to get our tests in, get the new aero package figured out, get the new tires figured out as fast as we can.

"We'll have new procedures with qualifying, a lot of different stuff. Whatever the changes are, we have to be on top of it before the start of the year. We can't be behind. We're not on top of it, so we have to get there.

"And it'll take a lot of hard work over the winter to do that, and that'll lead into the consistency and good finishes."

And maybe it'll make Labonte forget 2004.