Labonte wins The Winston after 11-year wait

The Texan took the prize of $200,000+ winner's purse in the 70-lap race after starting in 13th place on the grid.

Tony Stewart had to settle for second, but his performance should give any doubters good reason to understand his phenomenal success in other forms of motor sport.

He advanced to The Winston lineup by winning the 50-lap Winston Open event just prior.

The 1997 Indy Racing League champion, as well as the first driver to win a USAC 'Triple
Crown' in the same year, Stewart ran 22 Busch Series events in 1998, scoring two Bud Pole Awards, two runner-up places, five top-five and five top-10 finishes while completing the full IRL schedule with two wins and four poles.

A major incident occurred on a restart when then-leader Bobby Labonte's car did not come up to speed.

This, along with the one that brought out the first caution, parked not only Labonte, but Mark Martin, Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett, Ernie Irvan and Ricky Rudd and left other cars with visible scars though not undrivable.

Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt and Jeremy Mayfield rounded out the top-five finishers in this annual non-points event which began in May 1985.

The Winston Race Results, Lowe's Motor Speedway