1988: T. Labonte ices field in final 10-lap shootout

NASCAR's Iceman, Terry Labonte, kept a cool head and left the rest of the field frozen in his wake during the final 10-lap segment to win the 1988 Winston all-star race. And it was all about choosing the right rubber at the end.

Unlike the previous race, which featured Dale Earnhardt's "pass through the grass" -- which really wasn't a pass at all -- and some post-race pushing and shoving, the 1988 edition was all about being cool, calm and collected, which suited Labonte's personality just fine.

Labonte

Having a choice between Goodyear and Hoosier tires, several teams -- including Bill Elliott -- switched to the second option, as the Hoosiers appeared to be better over long runs. It worked in the second segment for Elliott, as he won going away.

"It wasn't an easy choice but I know it was the right choice to change tires," Elliott said. "There was just no comparison [between the tires]. We need to run as well as we can, and we won the second race. There's no way we would have won without changing."

But the Goodyears might have had a slight advantage in a short sprint, and that was Labonte's strategy. NASCAR officials allowed teams to switch manufacturers only once, so those who went to Hoosiers couldn't switch back for the shootout.

"[The Goodyears] would go away after 15 laps, but for the first 10 or so laps, they had an edge on the Hoosiers," Labonte said.

At one point, it didn't seem that Labonte would even have a chance to utilitize his strategy, because he made an unscheduled pit stop in the first segment for a blistered tire and lost a lap. However, he was able to take advantage of a caution to unlap himself before the checkered flag.

"If you get a lap down in The Winston, it's just about over," Labonte admitted. "But we put on four tires [during the last stop] and the caution came out after we pitted."

Then Labonte and crew chief Tim Brewer went to work before the final 10-lap segment, making a few changes that maximized the No. 11 Chevrolet's potential.

"We knew we had a lot of options -- put some timing back in the engine, change the stagger of the tires, and so forth," Labonte said. "We just guessed a little, gambled a bit, and hit it just right."

Armed with fresh Goodyears, Labonte knew he had to make his move early on. And he did, right from the drop of the green flag. Starting fifth, it took him only two laps to overtake Elliott for the lead.

All-Star Race

SPEED will again broadcast the Sprint Showdown and All-Star Race. Tune in at 7 p.m. ET on May 17 to watch rivals race for $1 million -- and the fireworks!

• All-Star coverage

"I knew I had to get there as fast as I can, with only 10 laps, and you don't want to use your tires up messing around there and wait to pass everybody one at a time," Labonte said. "You'll never get there. I was going as fast as I could."

From that point on, nobody was going to catch Labonte, as he took home a $200,000 payday, the biggest of his career to that point.

"They can run the race any way they want to," the 31-year-old Labonte said. "If they want to run around here backwards, it would be fine with me if they want to pay that much money."

Winston Open winner Sterling Marlin would up second, .967 seconds behind. Davey Allison was third, followed by Elliott and Bobby Allison. Kyle Petty and Dale Earnhardt were the only other cars on the lead lap at the finish.

Earnhardt, the defending race winner, blew a right-front tire just after taking the checkered flag in the first segment and slammed into the outside barrier, damaging his brakes. However, his crew worked diligently to repair the No. 3 Chevy -- and he was able to continue.

"Yeah, we blistered it, the right front tire, and it knocked us out of the race right there" Earnhardt said. "We tried to hang on."

Attrition was high, as only 10 cars were running at the end. Lake Speed finished second to Elliott in the second segment, but crashed into the wall three laps into the shootout, ending his day. Earlier, Ricky Rudd suffered torn ligaments in his left knee in hard contact with both the inside and outside walls after blowing a tire.

• 1988 Winston | 1988 Open | 1993 Winston | 1998 Winston | 2003 Winston