Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet) won the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway to move into sole possession of sixth place on NASCAR’s all-time wins list.  Gordon’s victory was the 77th of his career, moving him ahead of Dale Earnhardt. Gordon won last week at Phoenix International Raceway to end a 25-race winless streak and tie Earnhardt with 76 victories.

Gordon’s win was another milestone in an already impressive NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series career. Gordon has four series championships (1995, ’97, ’98 and 2001), second to Earnhardt and Richard Petty who have seven apiece. In addition, Gordon has 60 Budweiser Poles (fourth all-time), 220 top-five and 295 top-10 finishes. His to-date career winnings total is in excess of $84 million, over $20 million more than the next highest competitor, Mark Martin.

Gordon won Sunday’s race from the pole, the 19th time he has accomplished the feat, which ties him with Herb Thomas for sixth on the Wins from the Pole list. His win at Phoenix last week also came from the pole, giving him back-to-back wins from the pole for the third time in his career (2004 at Infineon and Daytona and 1996 at Dover and Pocono).

The win was Gordon’s fifth at Talladega, moving him into a tie with Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the most wins at the track among active drivers. Both run second to Earnhardt who had 10. Gordon has won a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at 22 different tracks. He has won on every track currently on the schedule with the exception of Texas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway. He also has wins at North Wilkesboro Speedway and North Carolina Speedway.

Gordon’s 77th career win came in his 482nd career start. At age 35, Gordon is in his 16th NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series season. He has driven for the same team – Hendrick Motorsports – since his debut in November 1992, at the age of 20. He has averaged five wins per season; if Gordon competes at the same rate for five more years, he’ll accrue more than 100 career victories.

Earnhardt’s 76th victory came Oct. 15, 2000 at Talladega Superspeedway – his 676th career start. He was 49 years, five months and 16 days old at the time. He competed from 1975-2001 for a total of 27 seasons. Earnhardt drove for eight different owners. He had 22 Budweiser Poles, 280 top-five and 427 top-10 finishes. His career winnings total is $41,531,211.

Other drivers with 76 or more career wins include Petty (200), David Pearson (105), Bobby Allison (84), Darrell Waltrip (84) and Cale Yarborough (83) – all NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series champions.

CREDIT: NASCAR PR 

Race Recap: Labonte Edges Stewart for NASCAR Busch Series Win

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

TALLADEGA, Ala. (April 28, 2007) -- In a green-white-checkered finish in Saturday's Aaron's 312, Bobby Labonte pushed Tony Stewart into the lead, then pulled out and passed Stewart as the two drivers approached the finish line at Talladega Superspeedway.

In beating Stewart to the stripe by .052 seconds -- less than a car length -- Labonte recorded his 10th Busch Series victory and his first since Darlington in 1998. The race featured a Busch record 36 lead changes and a Busch track record 20 different leaders.

Casey Mears was third, followed by rookies David Ragan and Kyle Krisiloff. Kevin Harvick, Juan Pablo Montoya, Ward Burton, polesitter Brad Coleman and series points leader Carl Edwards claimed positions six through 10.

"Coming down through the tri-oval, I knew those guys were far enough behind us," Labonte said. "I thought, 'Well, I can push Tony to the win, or I can try it myself.' I figured if had a chance for myself, I didn't want to screw (Stewart) out of second place. So I figured we were far enough down the racetrack where if I pulled side-by-side, they wouldn't catch us."

Stewart had nothing but praise for his former Nextel Cup teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing and sometimes-teammate at Kevin Harvick Inc., which recorded its first one-two finish with Saturday's race.

"If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have been there anyway," Stewart said. "He pushed me for two solid laps and pushed me into the lead. I was so shocked and so surprised when he pulled out (to pass on the last lap) that I just started laughing."

A seven-car pileup involving Steve Wallace, Stephen Leicht, Reed Sorenson, Marcos Ambrose, Mike Bliss, Kasey Kahne and David Reutimann brought out the seventh caution of the race on Lap 110, then a red flag on Lap 112.

Labonte said he noticed that his water temperature had reached 270 degrees before the red flag period helped cool the engine. By the end of the race, Labonte's motor was cooked.

Mears was the leader, followed by Harvick, Ragan, Krisiloff and Burton, when the race restarted of Lap 115 after a 16-minute delay, but NASCAR called a caution for debris from Kasey Kahne's damaged car a lap later, forcing the green-white-checkered finish.

In the one lap of green-flag racing before the debris caution, Stewart passed Burton for fifth to set up the two-lap dash for the finish. Labonte restarted sixth, right behind Stewart.

"The 33 (Stewart) and the 77 (Labonte) had such a run there at the end that if I'd tried to block them, they would have run right through me," Mears said.

CREDIT: NASCAR PR