FORT WORTH, Texas -- Terry Labonte lives in North Carolina now, but his Texas roots run deep.
The unflappable Iceman of NASCAR kept his cool in a late-race battle with Dale Jarrett on Sunday and won the Primestar 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.The public address system blasted "Deep in the Heart of Texas" as Labonte climbed from his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
The driver from Corpus Christi was saluted by a crowd of more than 200,000 as he drove to the finish line under the eighth caution flag of the day, brought out when Jimmy Spencer crashed four laps from the end of the 334-lap event.
Andy Graves, getting his first win with Labonte since becoming his crew chief midway through last year, said, "I told Terry I know he wanted to win Daytona, but I think we got him the second-most-meaningful race. This one means a lot to him."
Labonte was fast all day, leading five times for 124 laps, including the final 12. But it took the two-time Winston Cup champion 39 laps to catch and pass Dale Jarrett after the latter went into the lead for the first time on lap 285.
There were a couple of close calls with lapped cars and with each other as the battle raged and the crowd stood and cheered.
Labonte finally got by Jarrett on lap 323, using the lapped car of Chad Little to work his way into the lead for the final time. Labonte earned $376,840 from a purse of $4 million.
Top contenders Mark Martin, Burton's teammate and last year's race winner, two-time defending series champion Jeff Gordon and Mike Skinner crashed in separate incidents after cutting down right front tires.
Martin was able to return after 79 laps behind the wall and finished 34th. Skinner and Gordon wound up at the bottom of the 43-car field. Gordon, finishing last for only the second time in his career, came away with bruised ribs and a bruised chin.
Skinner had a hairline fracture to his right shoulder.