Darlington: Labonte ends win drought

Labonte took the lead on the final round of pit-stops, edging Kevin Harvick for victory. The former Winston Cup champion has fond memories of Darlington, holding a race on Labour Day for the final time. Labonte started his first NASCAR race at the historic track in 1978 and took his first win there in 1980.

Harvick claimed the runner-up spot for the third time in as many races, solidifying his third position in the championship. Jimmie Johnson finished third, with Jamie McMurrary and Bill Elliott rounding out the top five.

The race featured several big wrecks, the first caused when Christian Fittipaldi and Jason Leffler came together on lap five. The resulting wreck also involved Dale Jarrett, Tony Raines, Michael Waltrip and Rusty Wallace, with Starling Marlin and Mark Martin hitting trouble on the subsequent restart.

Jeff Gordon suffered his second retirement in a row when Casey Mears turned into him shortly before half-distance, sparking another multi-car pile-up.

"Casey Mears is a good friend of mine but he needs a spotter," observed Gordon. "I don't know what he was thinking. There wasn't anything broken on the car then. There's a whole lot broke now."

Championship leader Matt Kenseth could only finish 14th, but still increased his lead over Dale Earnhardt Jr, who lost eight laps with mechanical trouble.

Pole-sitter Ryan Newman led much of the race, and was looking a strong contender for victory until he stalled on pit road during a stop, and then couldn't get his car to re-fire. He lost nine laps while the team discovered the problem - apparently Newman had inadvertently hit his car's engine kill switch.