Labonte's optimism rewarded with throwback victory.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Byline: David Poole

DARLINGTON, S.C. _ There was a distinct retro feel to Sunday's Southern 500.

It's quite remarkable, actually, that none of NASCAR's marketeers thought to put throwback paint schemes on some of the cars running at Darlington Raceway.

One of those, no doubt, could have been Terry Labonte's car. He could have put similar colors to the ones he had on the No. 92 car he drove in his first career start in this race in 1978, or the car in which he got his first victory in the 1980 Southern 500.

Actually, the afternoon got off to that kind of start. Cale Yarborough, a five-time winner of "The Granddaddy of Them All" and a native of nearby Timmonsville, S.C., was honored before Sunday's race.

Yarborough, a three-time Winston Cup champion, took a couple of ceremonial spins in a specially painted Victory Lap car, part of a NASCAR program paying tribute to the outgoing series title sponsor. Afterward, Yarborough, 64, said it felt so good to be out there he thought about trying to go 500 miles.

He decided to sit this one out, but he had a direct link to the 46-year-old who at the end of a long, hot Sunday would be celebrating one of the most emotionally satisfying outcomes in recent NASCAR memory.