Labonte wins a weird one at Darlington in 2000

By all accounts, the 2000 Southern 500 was the most bizarre race perhaps ever run in the long and storied history of Darlington Raceway.

The eventual winner, Bobby Labonte, never led a lap under green as ever-changing strategy played out during three rain delays and six hours, finally culminating in a dark and stormy night in South Carolina. In fact, Labonte started at the tail end of the field, and was somewhat fortunate to be all in one piece, after a scary accident involving a stuck throttle on his primary car in Friday's practice.

Fortune put the lead into the hands of several drivers, including Jeremy Mayfield, Jeff and Ward Burton, and Dale Earnhardt. But fate smiled last on Labonte, who beat the field out of the pits under the ninth and final caution of the day, just moments before the skies opened and the lightning flashed, handing him his first and only Southern 500 victory.

''It was kind of strange in a lot of ways,'' Labonte said that day. ''We didn't have the fastest race car, obviously, but we were going to run all day. I didn't think I deserved it, but the good Lord blessed us with rain at the right time.''

In a way, Labonte was fortunate to be there to celebrate. The throttle stuck on Labonte's Joe Gibbs Racing Pontiac in practice, sending him hard into the outside concrete barrier, similar to accidents that had claimed the lives of Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin earlier in the season at New Hampshire.

However, Labonte was able to walk away unscathed.

"It could've been a lot worse, I realize that," Labonte said.

The team pulled out the backup car, but it was immediately apparent that it wasn't anywhere as good as the primary. Labonte had to use a provisional to make the race, and was facing what appeared to be an almost insurmountable climb from his 37th starting position. At that time, only inaugural Southern 500 winner Johnny Mantz, who started 43rd in a 75-car field in 1950, had won from that deep in the field. (Continued)