Race: Labonte's joy, Nadeau's agony
Race leader Jerry Nadeau ran out of fuel with less than a half lap remaining in the Sunday's NAPA 500, allowing Bobby Labonte to retake the lead just 100 yards from the finish line in Atlanta.
Nadeau took the lead on the 305th lap of the 325-lap race when he blew past race-leader Bobby Labonte. From there, it appeared he would cruise to victory ahead of Labonte's Pontiac. But on the last lap, Nadeau ran out of fuel allowing Labonte to win at Atlanta for the fifth time.
Labonte, the defending NASCAR Winston Cup champion, finished 2.031secs ahead of Dodge driver Sterling Marlin. Kevin Harvick was third, followed by Nadeau and Ward Burton.
"My tyres were worn out and was just junk there at the end," said Labonte. "We'll take this victory any time we can get it. Jerry ran a great race and deserved to win, but we were in the right place at the right time. It was a lot of fun. Nadeau whipped on us before he ran out of gas."
Nadeau said: "We just didn't get good fuel mileage today, I don't know why. We got real loose with about 15 laps to go but I figured I had a good enough lead. Darn it, half lap to go and I couldn't get it over there. This has happened a lot to a lot of people I just never thought it would happen to me."
For full race results click here.
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