After winning his first race in nearly four years last Sunday at Darlington (S.C.), Terry Labonte returns to Richmond (Va.) International Raceway this weekend with some unfinished business.

The last time the veteran Winston Cup driver came to RIR, he earned his first pole position in nearly three years and appeared ready to dominate on race day. But just when the wily Texas native thought he had seen and experienced it all in more than 25 years of Winston Cup competition, something new popped up.

Or, should we say, something new simply popped. Labonte was indeed racing strong in the Pontiac Excitement 400 in early May, leading 30 laps in the early going, before a freak part failure -- a rear spring on his No. 5 Chevrolet collapsed -- forced him into the pits for lengthy repairs that not only cost him a chance at victory, but eventually relegated him to a 21st-place finish.

"We've never, ever had anything like that happen, a spring collapsing like that," Labonte said. "That kind of messed us up, but we think we have it figured out to make sure that won't happen again. We're even taking a different car for this weekend that we think is an even better car."

And after what he accomplished at Darlington, Labonte is looking for even better days ahead, not only Saturday night at Richmond, but also for this season's remaining 11 races. Even though at 46 he's at an age where most Winston Cup drivers start thinking seriously about retirement, last weekend's win has rejuvenated the seemingly ageless Labonte.

"It was very important," Labonte said. "I felt like going into this year that it was going to be a very important year for us. I felt like our team was going to be much better than we were last year. So, it was a good feeling to get that win. It had been a while since we had been to Victory Lane.

"This sport is like a roller coaster: sometimes you're at the top, and sometimes you're at the bottom. When you're down on the bottom, you just have to keep working at it, don't ever give up and keep trying to work your way back up to the top. Sometimes you don't know how you get down to the bottom and sometimes you don't know how you get to the top. They're both the same thing, it's just the results are different.

"That was just such an exciting week for us at Darlington. I felt like our team had been getting closer to winning. We were qualifying good, practicing good, getting a lot more consistent and running good in the races, but we just weren't able to put the whole race together, to be good from start to finish. Sunday was the first time that happened to us. It was just a great feeling. I think it's given our team a little momentum, hopefully. There's a lot of guys on my team, the majority of them actually, who've never been to Victory Lane, so it was a thrill for them and just a great day for our entire team."

	Labonte was delighted to wave the victory flag again.

Labonte had gone winless for 156 consecutive races between the time of his last win -- at Texas Motor Speedway in March 1999 (he also won The Winston non-points race two months later at Charlotte) -- and Sunday's triumph at Darlington, the longest losing streak of his Cup career and one that had confounded him.

He had all the tools necessary to win, he had the backing of the Hendrick Motorsports operation, he had the talent -- but yet the two-time Winston Cup champion just kept finding new ways to lose.

"It's good to finally get it behind us because that was a pretty long streak," Labonte said. "Yeah, it was frustrating and disappointing because there were a couple of cases during the streak that I felt like we should have been able to win and we didn't. But, that's the way it goes."

Last season, rumors ran rampant that Labonte was on his way out not only of Hendrick Motorsports (which he's raced for since 1994) but also out of Winston Cup racing. There were whispers that retirement would probably be the best thing for him -- the sooner the better, some said.

Looking at the numbers, it's understandable why some people thought that. Labonte had been on an increasingly downward slide for seven consecutive seasons. From the time he won his last Winston Cup championship in 1996, Labonte's finishes in the standings had grown progressively worse: sixth (1997), ninth (1998), 12th (1999), 17th (2000), 23rd (2001) and his worst-ever finish of 24th in 2002.

The media ripped him, saying he was washed up and should retire. Some even altered Labonte's nickname. Instead of being called "Texas Terry Labonte," some reporters began referring to him as "Terrible Terry Labonte." That kind of treatment admittedly hurt, Labonte said, but he also knew that criticism is in plentiful supply when a team and driver is struggling.

"It is so easy for people to write and say things like that," Labonte said. "It's not just me, it's other guys, too. I think the age thing is blown completely out of proportion. When you look at everything that needs to come into place to get to Victory Lane, the age of the driver is probably least important. It just amazes me the media attention that it draws at times."

And now, many of those same members of the media are nearly gushing at the comeback Labonte has made in the first two-thirds of the 2003 season. Where they were saying he was washed up last season, now some are talking about Labonte potentially being one of the top contenders for the Nextel Cup championship next season.

"When we left the Texas race in April earlier this year, we were 31st in points and have battled our way back up to 11th," Labonte said. "We've got 11 races left to go, we've got some pretty good cars lined up for some tracks that we should have some good runs at. It wouldn't surprise me to win another race before the year's over, and we're going to continue to work to get into the top-10, which was one of our goals coming into this season."

And that goal is within grasp, with Labonte just one point behind 10th-ranked Tony Stewart heading into Saturday night's Chevrolet Rock 'n' Roll 400 at RIR. Now, instead of talking about breaking a lengthy losing streak, Labonte has thoughts of more wins this season and is even entertaining the idea of a third championship next year.

"Sure, I think we can still win (another championship)," Labonte said. "It all depends on if we can get our team to be just a little bit better. If we can, then I think we'll have a shot at it. But I think we're really close enough to think about it. When you look at a lot of the guys who are ahead of us in the points, we've been better than a lot of them in the last 15 races or so.

"We won the championship in 1996, and the year before we finished sixth in the points. The same thing happened in 1984, where we were fifth in the points in '83 and came back the next year and won it. When you get that close, with the way the competition is so tough, a little bit of luck on your part and some tough luck on somebody else's part and it makes a difference."

While he's not walking around like a giddy teenager, Labonte admittedly is still riding a significant high from his Darlington victory.

"I told somebody recently, 'You know, I've made about three careers out of this deal,'" Labonte said. "I've gone through these losing streaks before and come back strong. I want to ride this as long as I can."

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Motorsportwriter@MSN.com