Auto Racing: Labonte right at Homestead

Bobby Labonte led the only lap that mattered -- and won.

Matt Kenseth didn't lead or really even drive much at all, yet still went home with the most glorious trophy in all of stock car racing.

It was the typical, twisted ending that one might have expected as the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup season wrapped up Sunday at the Homestead-Miami Speedway.

On the final lap of an afternoon when tire problems kept bursting into the storylines, the right rear tire of Elliott's red No. 9 Dodge went flat because of a cut. Out with the air rushed the popular redhead's chance of winning the season-ending Ford 400.

Elliott's bad luck opened the door for Labonte, whose Interstate Batteries Chevrolet motored on to Labonte's 21st career Winston Cup victory. It was his fourth trip to Victory Lane on the final day of the season.

"I was just sitting back there knowing he'd been fast all day and there was no way I was going to catch him unless he had a problem," Labonte said. "His misfortune was our fortune."

Misfortune also snared Kenseth, who had hoped for a good showing to cap the series championship he clinched by a wide margin a week ago at the North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham.

Kenseth was able to complete only 28 laps before a big trail of smoke signaled a blown engine and a premature end to his bid.

Winding up dead last in the field, it was only his second did-not-finish of the season.

Kenseth's Jack Roush-owned DeWalt Power Tools Ford team had to roll out the backup car for the traditional post-championship burnout celebration.

Elliott, the race's defending champion, was relegated to an eighth-place finish. To rub salt into the wound, the car caught fire as he finished the race and he had to make a hasty exit from the machine after he brought it back into the pits.

"It was just one of them days," said the veteran Elliott, who has yet to reveal next year's plans. "We had a right rear go down and it was just an unfortunate thing. Our Dodge ran so well today and the team did such a good job. I'm proud of every one of them.

"There wasn't any warning. The next thing I knew, it was sideways off Turn Two."

Labonte, who started on the outside of Row 1 next to Jamie McMurray, earned $331,058 in the win. Second place in the race went to Kevin Harvick's No. 29 Goodwrench Chevrolet and third to Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet.

In the final points standings, McMurray's ninth-place finish in the race was good enough to land him second overall for the season ahead of third-place Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Jeff Gordon, fifth in Sunday's race, wound up fourth overall in the points, with Harvick rounding out the top five.

Ryan Newman, an eight-time winner in 2003, limped to a 37th-place finish in the race and sixth-place overall in the points standings. He had the bad fortune of getting caught up in a melee in the fifth lap.

Taking the low line through Turn Two, Harvick got loose and slid up the track into Newman, who then slammed up into Kurt Busch, who was running next to the outside retaining wall.

Newman and Busch both got their patched-up cars back onto the track, with Newman completing 122 laps and Busch 147.

Labonte said his team recovered from a slow start and never gave up.

"We ran over debris when the 97 wrecked and battled back," the race-winner said. "It was one of those fun days. Sometimes you can't do that. This is a great race track and you are able to do that here. "The never-give-up deal really happened from Lap One to the end."