Earnhardt, Labonte known for Thunder Valley dustups

In case you've ever wondered why Bristol Motor Speedway packs more than 150,000 fans into a half-mile racetrack on a steamy Saturday night in August, you only have to look at a pair of "tag, you're it" incidents between Terry Labonte and Dale Earnhardt under the lights to understand a little of the intensity.

In both 1995 and 1999, it was a hard-charging Earnhardt who rammed leader Labonte's rear bumper on the final lap. In the first instance, Labonte somehow skidded across the finish line first to win. In the second, it was Earnhardt who wound up in Victory Lane amid a chorus of boos, adding another chapter to his legend as the Intimidator.

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And it led to one of Earnhardt's greatest post-race quotes: "I wanted to rattle his cage."

In the rain-delayed 1995 Goody's 500, it wasn't Labonte who confronted Earnhardt after the race. Instead, it was Rusty Wallace who chucked a water bottle in Earnhardt's direction after the two made contact on Lap 32, sending Wallace's Ford hard into the concrete wall.

Despite being sent to the tail end of the field for that move -- courtesy of a rough driving penalty issued by NASCAR -- Earnhardt time and time again drove his way back to the front on a track known as a notoriously difficult place to pass.

On Lap 108, he fell back to 29th after pitting twice to repair damage from contact with Morgan Shepherd. But by Lap 195, Earnhardt had made up enough ground to blast past Jeff Gordon to take the lead, only to give it up after a slow pit stop 65 laps later.

While the lead changed hands between Derrike Cope, Lake Speed and Darrell Waltrip, Earnhardt once again rallied. He blew past Waltrip in Turn 3 on Lap 308, and handed it off only when the field came into the pits for service under caution.

Earnhardt made his final pit stop on Lap 390, giving him fresher tires than leader Dale Jarrett and the rest of the front-runners. And when Labonte got by Jarrett on Lap 432, Earnhardt appeared to be steadily closing ground. The only question would be if Earnhardt would have enough laps to catch Labonte -- and it initially seemed that the answer would be no.

However, Labonte was pinned in behind several slower cars, and as he took the white flag, Earnhardt aggressively threw his black No. 3 Chevrolet in the corners in one last effort to close the gap.

"Those guys didn't show any respect for the leaders," Labonte said. "Dale had fresher tires and he was catching us, but I thought we had enough laps. Then we caught that traffic and it got close."

Yes, it did get close, almost too close for Labonte.

Earnhardt wound up right on Labonte's bumper coming out of Turn 4 and turned the No. 5 Chevy sideways just as the two crossed the finish line. Labonte fishtailed, then slammed head-on into the outside concrete wall. He was able to drive his damaged car -- steam hissing and spurting from the wadded-up radiator -- into Victory Lane.

"Dale caught me and gave me a little shot in the back," Labonte said. "I stayed in the gas and just beat him across the line." (Continued)