EA Sports 500 - Terry Labonte Notes

START NO. 810 FOR 'TEXAS TERRY': Sunday's EA Sports 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway will mark Terry Labonte's 810th career Cup Series start, giving him sole possession of fourth place on NASCAR's all-time list. The only drivers with more starts are Richard Petty (1,177), Dave Marcis (882) and Ricky Rudd (831). Labonte has 51 of those starts at Talladega, with 23 top-10 finishes -- most among active drivers. That includes victories in 1989 and 1997, as well as three second-place finishes. Labonte also has one Talladega pole position to his credit (1995).

DELPHI COLORS AT 'DEGA: The No. 5 Chevrolet of Hendrick Motorsports will carry a special paint scheme at Talladega, featuring the red and black colors of Delphi.

LABONTE LEADS HMS LAP COUNT: Through the first 28 races of the 2004 season, Labonte has run more laps than any other Hendrick Motorsports driver, completing 7,746 circuits with Kellogg's Racing. Jeff Gordon is next in the Hendrick stable with 7,579 laps completed.

HMS LOOKING FOR SUPERSPEEDWAY REPEAT: During the last superspeedway event, held at Daytona International Speedway in July, each of Hendrick Motorsports' four NEXTEL Cup entries finished inside the top 10. Gordon won the race, while Jimmie Johnson, Labonte, and Vickers finished second, eighth and ninth, respectively.

HOLD THE PROVISIONAL: Labonte, driver of the No. 5 Kellogg's/Delphi Chevrolets, has now gone 43 consecutive races without the use of a car owner's provisional to access the starting field. The last time he failed to qualify for a race based on speed was the 2003 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis, making him one of only six full-time drivers to do so -- the others being Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart.

MR. OCTOBER: This weekend's EA Sports 500 is the first of five races during October -- a month that's been very kind to Labonte throughout the years. The two-time champion has posted five of his 22 career victories in October, including a 1997 triumph at Talladega. Other October wins came at Rockingham, N.C., in 1983; North Wilkesboro, N.C., in 1987; Phoenix in 1994 and Lowe's Motor Speedway in 1996.

HMS OUT FRONT: There have been two races this season in which every Hendrick Motorsports team (Nos. 5, 24, 25, 48) has led at least one lap in the same event. The first such feat occurred at Talladega in April and the second at Pocono Raceway in June.

TOP-10 '5' CAR FOR 'DEGA: The chassis entered by Kellogg's Racing for this weekend's event has been run twice this season. It finished eighth both times: in the season-opening Budweiser Shootout at Daytona Beach, Fla., and again at Daytona under the lights in the July 3 Pepsi 400.

TERRY LABONTE, DRIVER OF THE NO. 5 KELLOGG'S CHEVROLETS: (ON HEADING INTO THE HOME STRETCH OF 2004 SEASON.) "There are tracks coming up where we should do well. We've won before at Talladega, Charlotte and Phoenix. We'll go to Darlington as defending champions of the Southern 500. We may be 23rd in the points, right now, but this is not a 23rd-place team. I think we'll show that over these last eight races."