Labonte reflects on final full season.

Not withstanding the terrible tragedy that claimed nine members of the Hendrick Motorsports team in October, Terry Labonte's final year as a full-time driver wasn't one of his more memorable, although he is predicting good things for the future of his now former #5 Kellogg's team.

The season-ending Ford 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway marked Labonte's final race as a full-time Nextel Cup driver after the 26-year veteran announced in October that he will run partial 10-race schedules in 2005 and 2006, bypassing Speed Weeks 2005 in Daytona Beach, to begin his "Shifting Gears" tour at California Speedway on February 27th.

With Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson chasing Kurt Busch for the NEXTEL Cup championship at Homestead, Labonte agreed to scuff tyres for his title-contending teammates as the race neared its halfway point. Repeated trips to pit road cost him a number of laps in his final race as a full-time driver, but reinforced his status as the consummate team player.

Labonte wound up 26th in points, slipping behind 25th-placed Hendrick teammate Brian Vickers by a mere two markers in the final standings.

"We thought we'd pick up from the momentum we had at the end of 2003, but we just didn't have the consistency we needed during the first half of this year," said the double NASCAR Champion, who will use the #44 plate for the next two years as Rookie Kyle Busch takes his place in the Kellogg's sponsored ride. "That put us behind and we never really got in a position to catch back up. But there's a lot of talent on the (No.) 5 team and I think Alan (Gustafson) will do a great job as crew chief."

Bright spots for Labonte this season included his 600th start for Chevrolet, which came in June at Pocono, where he finished seventh. Six weeks later at New Hampshire, Labonte made his 800th career start, becoming only the fifth driver in NASCAR history to reach the 800-race plateau. He finished 16th in that event.

Despite finishing 26th in points, there was a nine-race stretch near midseason during which Labonte seemed poised for a run toward the top 10. He posted five top-10 finishes, including a sixth-place effort at the Chicagoland Speedway. But an accident at Indianapolis and engine failure at Watkins Glen slowed his progress.