In a way, Terry Labonte being named as one of 20 nominees for the 2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame induction class is like baking a cake.
Now all he needs is for the frosting to be applied, namely, being one of the five individuals who will be chosen for induction by the 50-member HoF voting panel on May 21.
Labonte, 57 and a two-time Winston Cup champion, competed in the 33rd and final Daytona 500 of his career on Sunday. While he wound up never winning the 500 in his illustrious career, he still showed he knows how to wheel a race car Sunday, starting 24th and finishing a respectable 20th.
Labonte was his usual humble self when discussing his nomination on Monday night’s edition of “Garage Pass” on the Performance Racing Network.
“It kind of surprised me,” Labonte said. “I didn’t really think about it, but that’s exciting to be named with those other guys that were named. That’s pretty cool.”
Due to changes in nominating rules this year, Labonte became immediately eligible for Hall induction consideration along with Bill Elliott, who was voted by fans as NASCAR’s most popular driver for 16 straight years.
By comparison, Sunday’s Daytona 500 winner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., has been voted most popular driver 11 years in a row heading into this year.
Even though they still climb behind the wheel on occasion, Labonte and Elliott became eligible for nomination for the Hall of Fame because of a new stipulation that drivers who have turned 55 years of age in the calendar year before nominating day, and who have competed for 30 or more years in NASCAR-sanctioned racing, are now immediately eligible for induction consideration.
Previously, drivers had to be retired from racing for at least three years. In another eligibility rule change, the Hall also reduced the number of nominees for consideration for next year’s five-person induction class from 25 to 20.
Labonte is honored to be up for induction consideration but in his typical humble, soft-tone manner, played down his chances.
“I don’t know,” Labonte said. “I can think of a lot of people I think that are more deserving than me to be in the Hall of Fame. There’s been so many people that have been in the sport for so many years that accomplished so many things back in the early days, whether it was drivers or crew members or team owners.
“It’s an honor to be mentioned in that category with those people, but there’s a lot of people I think that really made our sport great.”
The focus of the Detroit Monster Energy Supercross round was on the mid-pack battle while Aaron Plessinger pulled away from the field, but when he crashed after hooking his foot in the dirt, the results once more looked like we’ve come to expect, with Chase Sexton, Cooper Webb and Eli Tomac sharing the podium for the fifth time in 10 rounds.Justin Barcia was part of an exciting, four-rider battle in the middle of Detroit’s A-Main. – Feld Motor Sports
For Sexton, Plessinger’s late-race crash was a vindication of sorts. Several times already this season, Sexton has crashed while battling for the lead and the points that has cost him keeps him sporting the red plate. He lost points in Detroit for a different reason, however.
Sexton was allowed to keep the win, but was penalized seven points for jumping in a red cross section of the course. As a result, he dropped four points to Webb and two to Tomac. Sexton is now 17 points behind Webb in the championship hunt.
One week after snatching the red plate from Tomac for the first time in 2023, Webb stretched his advantage by two. With his second-place finish, Webb holds a three-point lead over Tomac, which essentially means both riders control their fate in the coming weeks. Webb continues to have a sweep of the top five this season with his sixth consecutive podium.
Coming off his worst finish of the season, Tomac rebounded to finish third. His eighth-place result last week was partially attributed to a stiff neck that hindered him in traffic and he still suffered some of those same effects in Detroit. Before Plessinger’s crash, he was destined to be the only rider in the three-man title scrum to finish off the podium in Detroit.
It is surprising what one position can do for one’s confidence.
Justin Barcia scored his fourth top-five of the season. He was part of the exciting four-man battle that dominated the middle stages of the race before Sexton and Webb gained a little separation. Finishing less than three seconds behind Tomac, he kept that rider honest for the entire race.
Coming off his first win of the season, Ken Roczen finished fifth. It was his seventh top-five of the season and it elevated him to fifth in the standings.
Hunter Lawrence tied his brother Jett Lawrence with 10 wins each after another dominating ride in the Detroit Supercross race and the results in the points continue to widen. With his fifth win in six rounds and a worst finish of third, Lawrence now has a 35-point advantage over Nate Thrasher with four rounds remaining. Finishes of 14th or better in the final four mains will give him his first 250 championship.
Strong starts have been one of the keys to Hunter Lawrence’s success in 2023. – Feld Motor Sports
Jett will have an opportunity to retake his wins’ lead as Supercross heads west for the next two rounds in Seattle and Glendale, Arizona.
Nate Thrasher earned his third second-place finish of the season with a gap of 7.6 seconds to Lawrence. He won the overall in Arlington earlier this season, but a 15th-place finish in the opening round in Houston and 10th in Daytona hurts his championship chances.
Haiden Deegan scored his second podium and fourth top-five in six rounds of his young career. On his way to that finish, he rode aggressively against his teammate Jordon Smith in the heat race. Fans are getting a glimpse of what his on-track personality might be.
Jeremy Martin continues to be the model of consistency. He has not finished worse than sixth or better than fourth in six rounds now and that has allowed him to close to within two points of third in the 250 East championship standings.
Max Anstie entered the race weekend second in the points, but a hard crash in heavy traffic early in the main forced him to retire after two laps. Earning only one point for the round, he plummeted to fifth in the standings.
The news was worse for Smith, who was dropped out of the top nine in his heat after the altercation with Deegan and failed to advance through the LCQ. In the last chance race, he stalled his engine and had to mount a determined charge. He got only as high as seventh in that race after crashing while attempting to make a pass on fourth-place Jack Chambers.
