(born
May 8 ,
1964 ) is an
American Race Car driver and drives the #43
Cheerios Dodge Charger for the
Petty Enterprises NASCAR Racing Team in the
Nextel Cup Series and the #77
Dollar General Chevrolet Monte Carlo for
Kevin Harvick Incorporated in the
Busch Series . During the mid-1990s, he was diagnosed with
Graves Disease .
As of
2007 , Labonte is the only driver to win both the NASCAR
Winston Cup championship (2000) and the NASCAR
Busch Series championship (1991). He also won the
IROC title in 2001.
Labonte was born in
Corpus Christi, Texas . He currently resides in Trinity, North Carolina. His older brother,
Terry Labonte , was also a prominent NASCAR driver, until he retired at the end of the
2006 season; the two are the only brothers to have both won the
Championship in NASCAR's top series (the other family pairs to have titles,
Lee and
Richard Petty and
Ned and
Dale Jarrett , are father-son combinations). He is also the uncle of former
Busch Series winner
Justin Labonte .
He began racing in
1969 in
Quarter Midgets in his homestate of Texas, winning his first feature race one year later. From then until 1977, he drove in quarter-midgets throughout the United States, winning many races. In
1978 , he advanced to the
Go-kart ranks, but moved to
North Carolina with his family following Terry's advancement to the Cup series. After competing in several different divisions, Labonte made his Busch Series debut in
1982 at
Martinsville Speedway , finishing 30th. Following his graduation from
Trinity High School , he worked as a fabricator on Terry's cars at
Hagan Racing . After years of racing in various divisions, Labonte returned to the Busch Series in
1985 , running two races in a car he owned himself at Martinsville, his best finish was a seventeenth. The next season, he won his first Busch pole position and finished second at
Road Atlanta .
In
1987 , Labonte won twelve races at
Caraway Speedway , clinching the track championship, in addition to working for
Jay Hedgecock . The following season, he competed at
Concord Motorsports Park , winning six times, and ran six more Busch races, finishing 16th at
Darlington Raceway . The next season, he ran seven races and had his first top-five finish at
North Carolina Speedway . He had two more top-tens that year.
In
1990 , Labonte competed in the Busch Series full-time in the #44
Slim Jim Oldsmobile he owned. He won two poles, both at
Bristol Motor Speedway , and finished fourth in points. He also won the Most Popular Driver award.
The next season, he won the Busch Series championship. He also won his first race at Bristol, then won again at
Indianapolis Raceway Park that same year. In addition, he made two Cup starts at
Dover International Speedway and
Michigan International Speedway , finishing 34th and 38th, respectively.
The following season, he won three races (
Lanier ,
Hickory , and Martinsville), but lost the Busch championship to
Joe Nemechek by three points, the closest Busch Series finish in history.
In
1993 , Labonte moved up to the Cup Series, driving the #22
Maxwell House Ford Thunderbird for
Bill Davis Racing . In his rookie season, he won the pole at
Richmond International Raceway , had two top-tens, and finished 19th in points, second behind
Jeff Gordon for
Rookie Of The Year honors. The next season, Labonte did not improve on his points finish, placing 21st, but won the championship in the Busch Series as a car owner when
David Green finished first in the standings.
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At the end of the season, Labonte departed to drive the #18
Interstate Batteries Chevrolet for
Joe Gibbs Racing . Bobby would pick up his first career win at the Coca Cola 600 in 1995. He would also go on and sweep the races at Michigan, and in 1996 would win the season ending race at Atlanta. The same race where his brother Terry won the championship. In 1997 Bobby switched car makes as he drove a Pontiac Grand Prix. Bobby would also win the season ending race at Atlanta for the second year in a row. In 1998 Bobby won the pole for the Daytona 500, he would also go on and finish 2nd to Dale Earnhardt in 1998. Bobby would later on win at Daytona's sister track Talledega in the spring. Bobby also again won at Atlanta and would also win the pole for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona in summer.
1999 , Labonte won five Winston Cup races, the most he has ever won in a single season. He finished second in the points to
Dale Jarrett , losing the championship by over 200 points. However during the season, he suffered a broken shoulder in an accident while qualifying for a Busch Series race at
Darlington Raceway , but raced in the Cup event two days later. Bobby started the race, but at the first caution a young Matt Kenseth would take over for him in the race. In 2000 Bobby went on to win 4 races at Darlington, Charlotte, and swept both races at Pocono. he was the first to accomplish this particular sweep, which has been followed by
Jimmie Johnson in 2004, and
Denny Hamlin in 2006. Bobby would go on and win his first ever Winston Cup Championship in 2000, finishing ahead of Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Burton.
In
2001 , Labonte finished 6th in the points standings. He also won twice that year at Atlanta and at Pocono. In 2002 Bobby only had 1 win, which was at Martinsville in the spring. It was his first career short track win at Martinsville. He went on to finish 16th in the standings, and failed to finish in the top 10 for the first time since 1998. In 2003 Labonte rebounded and finished 8th in the standings. Labonte won 2 races at Atlanta, and at Homestead. Also Bobby went on a tear during the spring with 3 straight 2nd-place finishes. In 2004 Bobby didn't win a race for the first time since 1994. Labonte finished 12th in the standings. 2005 saw much of the same. Bobby fell out of the top 20 in points, and only had 4 top-5s, one of which was a dramatic 2nd at Lowes Motor Speedway. He also went on to race some truck series events. His win at Martinsville in 2005 made him join an elite group of drivers that have won in all 3 divisions at one track.
He also ran the
24 Hours Of Daytona road race, sharing a car with his brother Terry,
Jan Magnussen and
Bryan Herta . After the disappointing 2005 season, Bobby asked and was granted to be released from Joe Gibbs Racing. Bobby joined the Petty Enterprises to drive the famous #43.
In his inaugural season in the #43, Labonte collected 3 top-5's and 8 top-10s. His top-5s included an impressive run at the
Martinsville Speedway where he finished 3rd after being in contention for the win much of the day. He ended up finishing 21st in the points standings, three spots better than in 2005.
Bobby began the 2007 season with a 21st place finish in the
Daytona 500 , after avoiding the many accidents the race had.
Bobby won the Busch Series race at Talladega Speedway in April 2007, edging Tony Stewart to the line in a thrillng finish. This was his first Busch Series win since 1998.
