Terry Labonte Announces Retirement from NASCAR After Talladega Race

Sunday's Geico 500 will be the final race in Terry Labonte's nearly four-decade-long NASCAR career. The 57-year-old announced he will retire after 37 years in the sport, per The Associated Press (via ESPN.com).

"You know, it's only about the third time I've said this is going to be my last race," Labonte said on Saturday. "But this is really going to be the last one. It's been fun."

Labonte's Sprint Cup career began in 1978, during which he ran five races, with one top-five and three top-10 finishes. The sport's certainly changed quite a bit since then, with the legendary driver recollecting a time when costs were a fraction of what they currently are, per USA Today's Jeff Gluck:

On Saturday, each side of Labonte's car honored his points titles in 1984 and 1996, per Tom Jensen of FoxSports.com:

However, NASCAR told him that he needed both sides to feature the same paint scheme, which Monte Dutton thought was a bit extreme:

Labonte qualified in ninth for Sunday's race. He'll be looking for the 23rd win of his career and third win at the Talladega Superspeedway, according to DriverAverages.com.