Labonte clinches IROC championship

Stewart was a major pest to Labonte in the race, including some extremely close racing, but Labonte was able to ultimately prevail by winning Saturday IROC race at Indy ahead of his team mate.

The win clinched the season championship for Labonte, the defending NASCAR Winston Cup champion.

CART driver Kenny Brack was third, followed by Indy Racing League driver Eddie Cheever and Winston Cup driver Dale Jarrett.

Labonte and Stewart raced each other side-by-side for the entire 34th lap of the 40-lap race. On the 35th lap, Labonte was in front but the two cars were loose coming off the fourth turn. Labonte nearly hit the wall and Stewart made contact with the outside wall, but was able to continue.

"This car was really loose most of the day," Labonte said. "I tried all I could do to stay off of Tony Stewart. I tried my best to get past him. I wrecked and he was in the wall. I'm glad we won the race. I didn't want to race like that. We traded a little paint - didn't really mean to.

Labonte was able to clinch the title in the 25th anniversary of the IROC series, which pits drivers from NASCAR and open wheel racing in 12 identically prepared cars in a four-race series. Labonte wins $250,000, but said he is donating all of it to the Cody Unser Foundation.

Cody Unser is the 14-year-old daughter of Indy Racing League driver Al Unser Jr. and suffers from Transverse Myelitis - a rare neurological virus.

"It was a good day and a lot of fun," Labonte said. "I'm glad to do that on the 25th anniversary of IROC."

Stewart, who earlier in the day was in a foul mood after qualifying ninth for the Brickyard 400, was in better spirits after the IROC battle, even though he brushed the wall in his tight battle with Labonte.

"It was fun," Stewart said. "I wouldn't have run that close with anybody else. I trust Bobby more than I trust anybody. To race anybody that close, that's the only guy I would have done it with. I ran out of real estate. I didn't expect him to do that. I don't know what happened. We probably picked up a big push, but he ran me right out into the fence.

"The car was hurt. It knocked the two out and everything. It was a matter of trying to finish. It was hot out there. The car was real loose today, which is uncharacteristic for these cars. To run second here, there's no disgrace in that, especially to your team mate. It was a fun race, just awesome."