Editor’s Note: NASCAR is celebrating its 75th anniversary. SPEED SPORT was founded in 1934 and was already on its way to becoming America’s Motorsports Authority when NASCAR was formed. As a result, we will bring you Part 53 of a 75-part series on the history NASCAR.
Joe Gibbs won three Super Bowls as an NFL head coach, but his teams were never quite as dominant as his NASCAR Cup Series race team was in 2000.
Bobby Labonte stormed to four victories and won his first series championship by a commanding 265 points over seven-time series champion Dale Earnhardt. Labonte’s teammate, Tony Stewart, meanwhile, led the series in victories with six triumphs, while ending up sixth in the standings.
The pair accounted for 10 of the 11 victories by Pontiac cars, while Fords won 14 races and Chevrolets claimed nine triumphs.
Labonte’s first season victory came in the second race at North Carolina Speedway, but the second triumph didn’t come until the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in August. From there, he added triumphs at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in the Southern 500, and at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
While Earnhardt and Jeff Burton chased valiantly down the stretch, the consistency with which Labonte’s Interstate Batteries team led by Jimmy Makar performed was amazing. The team racked up 19 top-five finishes and placed themselves in the top 10 in 24 of 34 races.
Winning the championship made Labonte and his older brother, Terry, the first set of brothers to each win the Cup Series title.
Terry Labonte wore the crown in 1984 and 1996.
“To be racing with Terry, to be competitive with him, to go from watching him race hobby stocks at Corpus Christi (Texas) Speedway when he was 15 and I was 8, watching them tear down a ’57 Chevy,” Labonte said. “I can remember those days, so I guess that’s what makes it all special.
“We’ve raced for a long time now. To be a part of winning the championship — both of us — I think that’s just overwhelming for our family.”
Labonte was quick to credit his crew for his success.
“Week in and week out you spend a lot of time with the crew members,” Labonte said. “I was a crew member for a few years there and I know how hard it is to accomplish hard work week in and week out — not just at the race track and the travel, but at the shop and getting everything right.
“So I kind of have a feeling how they feel. It’s very satisfying for them because they are a big part of the race team. We are all in this together.
“Jimmy Makar is the man behind it,” Labonte continued. “He is the man that doesn’t sleep a lot because he works real hard. Just getting to celebrate with him is a great feeling.”
Makar won the championship as a crew member with Rusty Wallace in 1989, but this was his first as a crew chief.
Making things more rewarding, Makar is the man who built Joe Gibbs Racing from the ground up in 1991.
“This is one of the goals I made for myself and Joe back in 1991 when we met and decided to go racing together,” Makar said. “There were three goals in my mind that I wanted to do. They were to build him a successful racing team, win races, and win a championship. It has taken nine years but we finally did it. It’s very satisfying to finally accomplish that goal.
“Anyone that has won a championship will tell you it’s a hard, long road. Anybody can win a race or two, but these championships are something you have to work into. You have to build a team and get the right driver.”
Labonte clinched the championship in the penultimate race of the season at Miami-Homestead Speedway in a race won by Stewart. The pair made a duel victory lap following the event, and celebrated together.
“Nobody deserved to win the championship more than Bobby Labonte,” Stewart said. “He’s a great teammate. It’s hard to explain to you how much of a help he is to me and how much of an inspiration he is to me. With five races to go in the season, he is still coming to me after practice and asking me if my car was alright and if I needed anything.
“Most guys trying to win a championship wouldn’t be worried about what his teammate is doing. He is agreat person and hopefully I can be like him one day.”
Stewart was pleased to win the most races in only his second season in the series.
“We obviously wanted to finish higher in the points, but if you can’t do that then we wanted to win more races than we did last year,” Stewart said. “We doubled it from last year.”
Earnhardt, Burton and defending champion Dale Jarrett took turns challenging Labonte throughout the season, but the battle for the runner-up slot went to the final race, with Earnhardt’s second-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway handing him the position by 29 markers over Burton. Jarrett was a distant fourth.
Earnhardt won twice during the campaign and amassed 13 top-five finishes and 24 top 10s at the wheel of Richard Childress’ GMGodwrench Chevrolet. Burton enjoyed a solid season putting together four victories in Jack Roush’s No. 99 Ford, while turning in 15 top-five efforts and 22 top-10 runs.
Jarrett drove his Robert Yates Racing Ford to a pair of victories, but they were nearly a season apart. He opened the year winning the Daytona 500 for the third time, but didn’t win again until Oct. 22 at North Carolina Speedway. J
arrett posted 15 top-five finishes and 24 top 10s.
Ricky Rudd completed his first season as a teammate to Jarrett with Robert Yates Racing, finishing fifth in points. Rudd, however, did not win a race. More than once he seemed to have victory sewn up only to have problems in the closing laps.
Still, he turned in 12 top-five and 19 top-10 finishes in the Texaco No. 28.
Rusty Wallace had an interesting season to say the least. The 1989 series champion won a career-high nine poles to lead the series. He also led more miles than any other driver and won four races. The driver of the Team Penske Ford recorded 12 top-five and 20 top-10 finishes.
Neither Mark Martin, nor Jeff Gordon had the type of season to which each is accustomed, but still finished eighth and ninth. Martin won a single race, while Gordon posted three victories and 22 top-10 finishes in his first year with Robbie Loomis as crew chief.
Ward Burton won for the first time since 1995, taking the March race at Darlington. He finished 10th in points.
The rookie-of-the-year race began with eight candidates, but turned into a two-horse race between Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr., with Dave Blaney a distant third.
Earnhardt drove his father’s Budweiser Chevrolet to a pair of points-paying victories and also won The Winston. However, Kenseth, who won the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, was more consistent and claimed the award based on 11 top-10 finishes to only five for Earnhardt.
Kenseth was 14th in the standings and Earnhardt was 16th.
The most interesting season may have belonged to Jeremy Mayfield, who earned a pair of victories, six top fives and 12 top 10s, but also missed two races after suffering a concussion at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In addition, his team was fined twice by NASCAR for infractions on its race cars, one of which left crew chief Peter Sospenzo suspended for a month.
As well, Mayfield’s car owner, Michael Kranefuss, sold interest in the team to Roger Penske.
However, the most interesting point in his season may have been when he punted Dale Earnhardt to win at Pocono Raceway on the last lap in early June. The last race of the year saw Jerry Nadeau post his first Cup Series victory, putting Rick Hendrick’s No. 25 team in victory lane for the first time since 1991 with Ken Schrader.
In addition to Nadeau, Earnhardt, Kenseth and Steve Park grabbed their first Cup Series triumphs.
The season also marked the final year for three-time Cup Series champion Darrell Waltrip.
The low point of the year came at New Hampshire Int’l Speedway in July when Kenny Irwin Jr. was killed while practicing his Team Sabco Chevrolet. The death came on the heals of the death of Busch Series driver Adam Petty at the same track in May.
Seventy-four drivers made starts in the series, with 41 recording top-10 finishes.