When Petty retired, it had been 6 years since his last win, and his average finishes were like 20th or worse. When Earnhardt died, he was still a contender, still running up front with the guys!

A 500 mile race decided by less than 2 feet...amazing.

Back then, I was a huge Bobby Labonte fan (still am, technically), and my brother-in-law lived and breathed Dale Earnhardt. We had a friendly rivalry going on about it, imagine us watching this finish. Bobby would go on to win the championship that season. For Christmas, my brother-in-law gave me a framed picture of a dejected-looking Bobby with the caption "I just got lucky." The first race of the following season was Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash. My brother-in-law took down all his Earnhardt posters, and NASCAR was never the same after that for either of us. Meanwhile, having just come off the 2000 Winston Cup and the most respected driver in the garage dying in an accident, I would give practically anything to know what was going on in Bobby's head after that. He was never the same, either.

Who is watching this in 2024 with the epic finish we just had?

Bobby Labonte is without a doubt the cleanest driver in NASCAR.

Dale's final Atlanta win, his last non restrictor plate win, and his last at any 1 and half mile track. Final win at Talladega later in 2000.

This was the first race I ever watched. I was 10 years old, and after this, I was hooked.

That was smart driving by Earnhardt. He knew how good the runs Labonte was getting off the high line were, so on the last lap, he took it away. He sacrificed track position, allowed Labonte to get alongside, knowing that he would have the run on Labonte going to the line. I still have to remind myself that Earnhardt was 48 YEARS OLD when he won this!! He was so great for so long. Consistency was his trademark.

Bobby didn't win this race but he used to flat out own Atlanta and it actually started before they reconfigured it. But after they reconfigured it, he took his dominance to another level. He had 6 wins, 12 top 5's and 13 top 10's in 18 races from 1995-2003. His average finish was 10.6 and that is skewed by 4 bad finishes of 31, 43, 33 and 37. Take those 4 races out and is average finish is a mind blowing 2.4.

I miss when espn showed old races

This finish is electrifying. The energy of the fans in the jam packed grandstands and knowing that this was NASCAR’s peak makes rewatching this that much more fascinating

Rest In Peace Bob

One of the greatest finishes of all time, and it was between the top-2 guys in the points of that season. Amazing. Great driving by Earnhardt, great driving by Labonte, this is NASCAR racing at it's finest.

Hard to believe that this was over 20 years ago now...

Earnhardt made a very smart move in going high in 3 and 4 and taking Bobby's line away from him.

I just have to say it. I used to be one of those douchebags who talked shit about Nascar and the people who watch it. But one day I caught this race on espn classic and became a believer. I can't even explain to my friends properly now why I like racing so much.... It's just dale man... it's just dale.

Anybody else see the back of Dales car jumping around coming off of 4? Bobby had the best car and would have smoked anybody else , lots of respect between these two.

One Of My Favorite Memories is Dale Battling Bobby Labonte for the Lead & the Win. The More they raced, the Louder I Cheered for Dale to Win. And When Dale Earnhardt beat Labonte by An Inch, I Went Crazy. It was That Race that Got Me hooked & It was that Race that I Became a Huge Fan Of Dale Earnhardt. From then On I Started Reading Every Book & magazine I Could find to Learn about The Earnhardt Family's Legacy. REST IN PEACE DALE! 12 Years Ago today.

Bobby Labonte was very good at creeping back up towards the leader with a few laps to go.

I was there saw it live!!!! #3 forever!!

I was a Labonte guy but this was a hell of a finish even though he lost. Tip of the hat to both drivers.

One of the greatest finishes of all time.

What a finish! Dale's 75th and second-to-last victory.

He was actually 49, he would have been 50 in April 2001.

This---and the next year by this team---both classic wins.

This was the first NASCAR race I ever watched and I've been following it ever since. I became an Earnhardt fan after this finish. 3:20

It’s really something crazy reading the comments here and some date back to 11 years ago... just wild. Bobby was my favorite driver and you gotta appreciate the respect he had for Dale by racing him so damn clean at the end he easily could have pushed him into the fence, but Bobby wasn’t that kind of driver, and Dale usually didn’t rough this Labonte up either... haha can’t say the same about how Dale raced Terry tho hahahaha

RIP Bob Jenkins

Anyone miss the way these cars used to sound

I'll wait on Kenseth for a few years, Bobby's reputation of racing clean is bigger than Matts

These production based cars were so much better than this NASCAR dream car of today, these were drivers cars, made about 3 or 400 more horse power, had to use the engine each manufacturer produced and being sold to the public at the time, now everybody gets to use a detuned version of the Chevy engine.

What a race and what a finish!! Thanks for posting this classic footage!!

A year later, Kevin Harvick wins at this exact track in an identical finish to how Earnhardt won here.

just got the 'dale' dvd, added bonus it has the full oct. 2000 talladega race. wow.

bobby will always be my favorite I didn't like he got replaced by jj and Kyle bush tho

Jeff Gordon fan throughout the 90s, and even when I hated Earnhardt then, I sorely miss him now. NASCAR just hasn't been the same since.

I never have gotten how they couldn't tell who won this race until after they look at the scorin' monitors, but they could see who won the 2007 Daytona 500 & who won Darlington in 2003, oh well, this is one of the greatest races of all time, always will be, just Dale Earnhardt will always be the best there ever was in racin' #3 forever!

That track was perfect

I was Their he was blowing by them like they were nothing. Never saw anybody to this day who was that good in a race car!!!!!🤘😎🤘

God, times were good...

7 cars on the lead lap? wow

the guy on the outside almost always wins the race

Was there with a labonte fan and I was a Jeff burton fan sitting in turn 4 stands n saw rear of cars go across line looked side by side n heard Earnhardt wins it over speaker. Was cold as sh&t with a wind of 25

I remember that nice

I remember this race like it was yesterday

Guy was still running for championships until his death .....1979 to 2001 always in it for a championship....if that’s not the best driver ever I don’t know what is

@stormchaser34869 Marlin in the 40 Coors Light car is how most remember him though. I think between the 90's and about 2002 were the best most memorable paint schemes fro drivers

I never ever watched NASCAR with the same wonder after the world lost Dale Earnhardt. To me, he was the very spirit of racing; competition incarnate.

@Legometallica09 that finsh called an angel among us

A lot of people don’t know the reason Dale Sr wore an open face helmet was so he could feel the draft better on his face. The man was an absolute master of drafting

@ 3:24 ray is smart to say the #3 car wins

this race is called earn-ing the win

gotta agree with your top 5 ty. got the 1st 4 on tape.

Just like the reanactment!

Identical finish the next year too

Is that Ray Evernham also in the booth at 0:21?

yay

The car that Kevin Harvick got his first Winston cup start in

still miss that 3 car, still hurts.

I was there that day and next year I was there when Kevin won in Dale's car sad year in 2001

Dang it, Bobby!

Ray Evernham, other announcer.

@Legometallica09 which was beaten by Craven's win over Kurt Bush, who won by 0.002 seconds.

I Was 3 Years Old I Went There

My birthday party was this day

2020

2:45 This Was Tie Carl Edwards & Jimmie Johnson

true not ALL the time but most of the time and also if he did wreck people on higher than 1.5 miles it was because they were blocking him on last lap or if they cut him off

Imagine if labonte win that race

What about 99' Bristol, 90' Pepsi 400 or 94' Rockingham??? but your right its up there

#ClassicNascar #NascarThrowback

i was talking right now

Same Thing Jimmie Johnson & Carl Edwards 2005

but i'm not saying that Kenseth isn't a clean driver, cause he is.

Did anyone else notice that there was only 7 cars on the lead lap?

I was at this race also not the best of seat's

I wish his son had better results like his dad did- hopefully his day is coming thou.

go ask all the drivers who they think is the cleanest driver in the garage and half will say Bobby Labonte; Tell me one time Bobby spunout someone on purpose?

2:40

While Earnhardt won the race, Bobby won the championship =/

3:21

How is Burton better than Bobby, Burton hasn't won the Brickyard or any of the big races. Plus he has no championships.

Bobby Labonte disliked this. lol

Earnhardt did that on purpose.

I think he went to the high side to put on a show. He knew he had it.

If that was the other way around Earnhardt would have wrecked him

Defenitly Burton...Bobby's better than Kenseth