Bobby Labonte

Bobby Labonte is the younger brother of two times Winston Cup Champion Terry Labonte. Bobby began racing quarter-midgets in Texas in 1969. He graduated to go-karts in 1978. He ran Late Model Stocks where he won a championship at Caraway Speedway in 1987. He also ran Late Model Sportsman. His NASCAR Busch Grand National debut came in 1990. In 1991 he won the BGN Championship in the #44 car owned by his Father. He almost repeated in 1992 - but - lost to Joe Nemechek by only 3 points.

In 1993 Bobby made the move to Winston Cup. He joined Bill Davis Racing and the #22 Maxwell House team. In his first year, he qualified for all 30 races - finishing 19th in the final points standings. He won his 1st pole position in the September race at Richmond. His best finishes were 7th at Michigan in August and at Dover in September. The next season, Labonte did not improve on his points finish, but won the championship in the Busch Series as a car owner when David Green finished first in the standings.

At the end of the season, Labonte departed to drive the #18Interstate batteries Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing. Labonte picked up his first three career wins and finished tenth in points. He also won two poles at Michigan and Martinsville. In 1996, Labonte did not win until the season-ending NAPA 500 the same race where his brother Terry won the championship. After winning the NAPA 500 again the following season, Labonte won the pole at the Daytona 500as well as races at Talladega Superspeedway and Atlanta, finishing eighth in points.

In1999, Labonte won five Winston Cup races, the most he has ever won in a single season. He finished second in the points to Dale Jarret losing the championship by over 200 points. 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. The next year, he won four more times and clinched the championship over Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Burton.

The 2002 season, he only won once at Martinsville and finished sixteenth in points, the first time he'd finished outside the top-ten since 1996. He recovered briefly in 2003 winning two races and four poles en route to an eighth place points finish.