Dale Earnhardt's last win at Bristol was in 1999. Credit: Craig Taylor/Getty Images

Labonte remembers Bristol battles with 'Big E'

Since this year's night race isn't on his schedule, Sunday's Food City 500 likely will be two-time Cup champion Terry Labonte's last shot at Bristol Motor Speedway's daunting high-speed banking, and the gritty Texan will carry plenty of memories away from "Thunder Valley."

But he'll leave as many as he takes when he retires from Nextel Cup racing at the end of this season.

	Credit: Craig Jones, David Taylor/Getty Images
	Inside the Numbers The records of Terry Labonte and Dale Earnhardt at Bristol   Labonte Earnhardt Starts 54 43 Wins 2 9 Top-5s 19 20 Top-10s 33 30 Poles 1 2 Laps Led 807 3,748 Avg. Start 13.6 13.2 Avg. Finish 12.0 9.3

Not surprisingly, while two victories rate highly on Labonte's Bristol dance card, memories of one of Bristol's legendary masters, the late Dale Earnhardt, also scream for notice.

And two of them leave indelible recollections for thousands of fans.

One of them involved a Labonte victory and the other did not; but on the eve of his final Bristol qualifying event, Labonte recalled one absolute from 44 of 54 Bristol starts in his career.

"I think what I miss [most] about Dale, is Bristol," Labonte said. "When you go there, man I'm telling you -- if you were going to win, you were going to race him at some point in the night to do it.

"We had some fun races there, for sure -- they were pretty exciting races."

Labonte made his Bristol debut in 1979 -- and Earnhardt won the first of his nine Bristol victories in the spring event, the Southeastern 500.

But Labonte's leading memory came in 1995, as the 500-lapper wound down.

"He got tires, and I had older tires on, and he was catching us there at the end," Labonte said. "I was going to be fine, but caught some traffic and got caught behind some lapped traffic and lost a little time -- and he caught me there at the last lap."

A Bristol move that Earnhardt could have patented came next.

"He got into me coming to the finish, and I went across the finish line sideways," Labonte said. "I knew I was going to wreck, but I never let off, because I was pretty sure I could beat him across the line if I stayed in the gas.

"I just wasn't sure what was going to happen past that. But, we made it across the line and I won the race."

Earnhardt wrecked him again at the end of the 1999 night race, but this time Labonte wasn't so fortunate. He finished eighth, and evoked a reaction from the huge sellout crowd that is chilling even to this day.

"It was kind of eerie, almost," Labonte said. "The fans really booed him -- even his own fans did, I think [but] I don't know, it was just one of those deals.

"I told some people, 'You know, I don't think he did it on purpose.' And they were like, 'You're the only one who thinks that!' I was a little hot about it for a couple weeks [but] it made for some cool highlights."

And it evoked Earnhardt's priceless Victory Lane comment, in which he sheepishly said he was "only trying to rattle [Labonte's] cage."

"I was actually leading the race, and the caution came out," Labonte said. "I slowed down when the caution came out and Darrell Waltrip ran all over me and spun me out with like 10 to go.

These days you can find Labonte in the No. 96 Chevrolet for Hall of Fame Racing. Credit: Autostock

"And I thought, 'shoot.' I mean, we had a good lead. So, I'm sitting backwards on the racetrack and everybody goes by me, and then I get turned around, pit and get four tires.

"Well, Earnhardt was leading, but was pitting on the back straightaway, so he stayed out, and everyone else stayed out. So, I'm like the only guy who has new tires.

"Well, new tires at Bristol against guys that have 50 laps on theirs, I'm a lot faster than everybody. So, I came through the pack and passed him [Earnhardt], and we kind of rubbed each other down the front straightaway.

"He hit me off of [Turn] 2 and it caused a five- or six-car wreck."

And nearly set off a riot.