Bobby Labonte Finishes Fifth, Wins Points Title

Bobby Labonte, with a fifth-place finish in Sunday’s Winston Classic at Martinsville, Va., won the Busch Grand National title after Kenny Wallace had brake problems early in the race.

The points battle between Labonte and Wallace overshadowed Harry Gant’s victory.

Labonte, brother of 1984 Winston Cup champ Terry Labonte, came to Martinsville Speedway with a 19-point lead over Wallace, whose brother, Rusty, won the points title in 1989. No Grand National points chase had been closer heading into the final race.

But Wallace fell off the pace less than 50 laps into the 200-lap event. Labonte, who started on the pole, ran with the leaders all day, stayed out of trouble and finished a lap behind Gant. That gave Labonte 4,264 points, 74 more than Wallace.

Gant, who averaged a record 78.638 m.p.h., lapped all but three cars and wound up 7.25 seconds ahead of Chuck Bown. Gant wound up with five Grand National victories on the year, including four of the last six.