Daytona 500 - Terry Labonte Notes

HENDRICK CELEBRATES 20 YEARS: Entering its 20th anniversary season, Hendrick Motorsports has captured five NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now NEXTEL Cup) championships, three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series titles, one NASCAR Busch Series crown, and more than 100 Cup Series victories. Since 1984, Chevrolet race cars entered by Hendrick Motorsports have won more than 150 NASCAR-sanctioned races, including four Daytona 500s and the inaugural Brickyard 400.

LABONTE STILL DNF-FREE: Terry Labonte enters the 2004 season carrying a string of 42 consecutive races without a DNF (did not finish), the longest current streak in NEXTEL Cup. The modern-era record is 56 straight, set by Jeff Gordon in 2001-02. Labonte was one of only two drivers who completed all 36 races last season, the other being Kevin Harvick.

TOP-10 FOR 20: Hendrick Motorsports has placed at least one team in the final top 10 in the Cup Series point standings for 20 consecutive years (1984-2003). Multiple Hendrick teams have finished in the top 10 in the same season on 13 different occasions.

KELLOGG'S, HMS EXTEND PARTNERSHIP: The 11-year relationship between Hendrick Motorsports and Kellogg's is the fourth-longest current primary sponsor-team association in NASCAR, behind only GM Goodwrench and Richard Childress Racing (17 years); Miller Brewing Company and Penske Racing (14 years); and DuPont's 12-year relationship with Hendrick. Last month, Kellogg Company and Hendrick Motorsports announced a multi-year agreement securing the Michigan-based cereal maker as primary sponsor of the No. 5 NEXTEL Cup Chevrolets.

DO THE MATH: Coming into the 2004 season, Hendrick Motorsports has earned 117 Cup Series victories in 625 events entered. That's one win for every 5.34 races.

LABONTE LOOKING FOR FIRST: Although Labonte returns to Daytona in search of his first points-paying victory, he has posted three wins overall at the 2.5-mile oval -- winning his class in the 1984 Rolex 24, the Budweiser Shootout in 1985 and a Daytona 500 qualifying race in 1989, for which his winning average speed of 189.554 mph still stands as a track record. Labonte has finished second five times in points races at DIS, most recently in 1997.

HMS STREAKS: As of 2003, Hendrick Motorsports has earned at least one Cup Series pole position in 20 consecutive years (1984-2003) and at least one Cup Series win in 18 straight (1986-2003).

PROVISIONALLY SPEAKING: Labonte has gone 15 races without the need of a provisional starting position, his longest such streak since he put 24 straight races together in 1998.

THREE FOR THREE & FOUR IN A ROW: Rick Hendrick is one of just three team owners to win championships in each of NASCAR's top three divisions -- Cup Series, Busch Series and Truck Series. He is the only team owner to win four consecutive Cup Series championships (1995, 1996, 1997 & 1998).

ANOTHER ANNIVERSARY: Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout will mark an anniversary of sorts for Labonte. It was Feb. 7, 1982 when he raced in his first Shootout, then known as the Busch Clash. He started on the pole and finished second to Bobby Allison.

HENDRICK CHAMPIONS: Hendrick Motorsports has fielded championship-winning teams with four different drivers -- Jeff Gordon (Cup Series), Terry Labonte (Cup Series), Jack Sprague (Truck Series), and Brian Vickers (Busch Series).

ROLL CALL: Drivers that have driven for Hendrick Motorsports over the past 20 years include: Geoff Bodine, Kyle Busch, Ricky Craven, Wally Dallenbach, Jeff Gordon, David Green, Rick Hendrick, Ricky Hendrick, Jimmie Johnson, Terry Labonte, Jerry Nadeau, Joe Nemechek, Benny Parsons, Tim Richmond, Ricky Rudd, Ken Schrader, Jack Sprague, Brian Vickers, and Darrell Waltrip.

TERRY LABONTE, DRIVER OF THE NO. 5 KELLOGG'S / got milk? CHEVROLETS: (ON GOODYEAR'S SOFTER TIRES.) "The biggest thing I hope it does is take some of this gas mileage and track position stuff out of the equation. The softer tires are going to be faster to start with, but once they begin to wear, your chassis will come into play a little more than it has in the past."

LABONTE: (ON CHASING HIS FIRST DAYTONA 500 VICTORY.) "It's the hardest race to win because so much goes into it. You prepare all winter, then you test, we're down there for two weeks and then you have to survive the qualifying races just to make it into the '500.' There are a lot of guys who burn the same fuse I do -- like Rusty Wallace and some others -- who have won a lot of races and championships, but still haven't won the Daytona 500. Maybe this will be the year."

JIM LONG, CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 5 KELLOGG'S / got milk? CHEVROLETS: (ON CONTINUING THE TEAM'S TURNAROUND FROM 2003.) "Everyone worked hard to get this team back in the top 10 last year and the effort paid off. Now, we want to maintain our consistency, win more races and climb into the top five. We've got the driver to do it -- Terry Labonte is a two-time champion -- and we've got the team to do it. I wouldn't trade our pit crew for any other."