The Bristol Night Race is still capable of delivering thrills and spills while testing patience and anger management, often simultaneously.

But those who were around will tell you there was nothing like Bristol after dark in the 1990s, especially beginning in 1992 after they put down fresh concrete to replace the asphalt.

And nothing during that decade topped what happened in the final Bristol race of the ’90s. It’s forever known as the “cage rattler” and 25 years later, it remains one of the most colorful nights in NASCAR history — and not just because Dale Earnhardt was at the center of it all, but largely because Dale Earnhardt was at the center of it all.

GREAT AMERICAN READ: Celebrate a fast-paced history of the Daytona 500 with new book; foreword by Richard Petty

Two spins for Terry Labonte

Unlike now, the Bristol Night Race wasn't part of the playoffs 25 years ago. The playoffs were still five years away from birth. But Bristol was must-see TV for fans of auto racing and/or mayhem.

Earnhardt started deep in the 43-car field — 26th — and therefore received a backstretch pit stall, a big disadvantage back in the day. But he worked his way up and on Lap 380 (of 500), he took his first lead and held it for 32 laps, then swapped the lead back and forth with Terry Labonte the rest of the way.

Labonte, in his familiar No. 5 Hendrick Chevy, had led 51 straight laps and appeared to be cruising to victory when Jeremy Mayfield spun to bring out the caution with 10 laps left. Instead of racing back to the line under caution, allowable then, Labonte lifted his right foot, but Darrell Waltrip didn’t — Waltrip tagged Labonte’s rear bumper and sent him into a spin and out of the lead.

Labonte, suddenly cursed by the racing gods, used the opportunity to take on four tires under caution and restarted fifth, behind Earnhardt, who’d inherited the lead again from Labonte, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and Mark Martin.

By the end of the second green-flag lap — Lap 497 — Labonte had passed Martin and Gordon. He passed Stewart on the next lap and was only behind Earnhardt’s black No. 3 Chevy with two to go. He nudged Earnhardt in Turn 3, got under him through Turn 4 and was by him as they went under the white flag.

This time, Labonte’s lead lasted all of five seconds. Earnhardt, on older tires, had just one chance at beating Labonte — he’d need to “disturb” him going into one of the last two corners and get him loose. By Turn 3, it would’ve been too late, given Labonte’s tire advantage, so Turn 1 it was.

And what a scene the Intimidator ignited with that rough-housing of “Texas Terry,” a generally mild and understated racer — a two-time champ with as solid a reputation as you’d find in auto racing.

Dale Earnhardt at Bristol: 'I wasn't going to wreck him'

The punting of Labonte collected several other lead-pack drivers as Earnhardt flew around to the checkers. Somewhat comically, Jimmy Spencer followed Earnhardt to the stripe and didn’t appear to realize the checkered flag was waving.

As Earnhardt let off the gas just past the checkers, Spencer nearly wrecked him with a blow to the rear bumper, then clanged off the lapped car of Kyle Petty before slowing. It was Mr. Excitement’s best finish in over a year, so maybe he wasn’t thinking clearly.

First up for post-race reaction was Earnhardt’s longtime friend and team owner, Richard Childress, who was either in the dark or at least claimed to be, because by that time the booing from the grandstands was audible, even over the ongoing engine noise.

“Where I was, I couldn’t tell what happened,” Childress said.

Earnhardt pulled into Victory Lane and the fan reaction, which was always mixed with Earnhardt, was amplified way beyond the norm. But there was a sense — either real or imagined — of sheepishness among the followers and the man himself.

ESPN’s Jerry Punch began the interview by asking Dale to “take us through those last couple laps.”

“Well, we knew we didn’t get tires,” Earnhardt began. “And I didn’t know who got tires behind us. All I knew was I needed to protect that bottom.”

His wife Teresa moved in for a kiss and then backed into the fringes again. Earnhardt then began the explanation that became part of his legend as well as the legend of the Bristol Night Race.

“Terry got into me in the middle of 3 and 4. I was gonna get back to him and just rattle him. I wasn’t going to wreck him. But I got to him and turned him around. Didn’t mean to turn him around.”

Then the kicker.

“Meant to rattle his cage, though.”

EARLY EARNHARDT Dale was destined for greatness from a young age in Kannapolis

Terry Labonte's plan for a t-bone misfired

Years later, Labonte said he’d planned to t-bone the No. 3 car during Earnhardt’s victory lap. His Chevy was sitting on the apron with its rear pointed toward the racing surface. He said he had it timed perfectly for a retaliatory blow, with the transmission in reverse, but as he let off the clutch the car lurched and broke a gear, leaving it sitting still.

At that point, Labonte recalled later, he said to himself, “Really? So I wasn’t as mad after that.” With defeat having set in and the immediate anger subdued, Labonte’s TV interview was calm yet pointed.

He told ESPN’s Bill Webber about getting rear-ended by Waltrip and knocked from the lead with 10 to go, then the final blow from Earnhardt.

“Wasn’t my night,” he said.

About that last lap …

“I passed him down the front straight-away, and he hit me in the corner down there in 1 and 2 and turned me around. That’s about it.”

Webber relayed Earnhardt’s explanation about not meaning to actually turn him around.

“He never has any intention of taking anybody out,” Labonte said. “It just happens that way.”

Some 20 minutes after the race, nearly the entire sellout crowd of 131,000 was still there under the full moon (of course a full moon).

Benny Parsons, ESPN commentator and former NASCAR champ, was first to point it out.

“There are a few people leaving,” he said, “but most of ‘em are just sitting here, standing here … just numb. Stunned, really”

Play-by-play announcer Bob Jenkins, in the midst of the post-race breakdowns, stated the obvious.

“They’ll talk about this one for a long time.”

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Dale Earnhardt at Bristol 25 years ago rattled a NASCAR cage