Former champion now a free-agent

Now that Petty Racing is no more and former NASCAR champion Bobby Labonte is a free-agent, its anybody's guess where he will end up for 2009.

Speculation is running rampant. Some have him close to being in the #41 Target Dodge for Gnassi/Earnhardt Racing a.k.a Chip & Dale, while others are floating rumors that have him going back to Joe Gibbs racing to drive a 4th team car.

Labonte won his championship in 2000 driving the #18 Interstate Batteries car for JGR. Back then, the car was a Pontiac. Since then they have switched to Chevy and now JGR uses exclusively Toyota. The #18 car is now driven by Kyle Busch and sponsored by M&M's. JGR also fields the #11 Fed-Ex car driven by Denny Hamlin, and the famous #20 Home Depot car recently vacated by Tony Stewart now driven by Joey Logano. The wonderment about is is, could JGR add a 4th car for Labonte and possibly earn back Interstate Batteries full sponsorship? It's fun to think about, but not likely to happen.

The most likely possibility, at least from where I sit anyway, is him going to Richard Childress Racing to drive their newly announced 4th car, the #33 Cheerios sponsored Chevy. At the begining of the 2008 season, it was announced that General Mills would be removing it's sponsorship of the #43 Dodge owned by Petty Enterprises and driven by Labonte, and taking that sonsorship to RCR in 2009. Many rumors at the time had the driver (Labonte) and the sponsorship being a package deal, both going to RCR in 2009. Labonte though, still had three years on a contract with Petty. Of course we all know happened in December. Labonte was released from his contractual obligations to Petty and Petty Enterprises was sold to Gillette/Everenham Motorsports. This sets the stage for what was rumored last February to actually take place.

Personally, I would love to see it play out this way. RCR has a strong race team. Jeff Burton in the #31 AT&T car, Kevin Harvick in the #29 Shell car, and newcomer Clint Bowyer in the #07 car. All three RCR team cars placed in the Chase for The Sprint Championship in both 2007 & 2008. Adding former champion Labonte to the mix would make RCR even more of a force to be reckoned with on the track. Does anyone remember another famous RCR car that was painted black, had GM Goodwrench as its sponsor, and wore the #3? My point is, RCR has a rich NASCAR championship heritage and the addition of Labonte to the team would only strengthen that legacy.

And, for you naysayers out there who think Labonte should just hang it up and go do something else, forget about it. The boy still has several good years left in him and maybe even another championship or three. The key is getting him on a strong team and in a good car. RCR would without question provide both. He can compete with and outdo any and every other driver out there on any given Sunday with the right equipment and team and if it all works right, he will. It will certainly be interesting to see how it all shakes out and you can bet I will keeping tabs on it.

Jim Chitty
Writer/Columnist/Blogger

Update, 1/7/09: I said in a previous paragraph that my favorite and what I believed was the best option was for Labonte to wind up in the #33 car for RCR. A driver has already been selected for that car. Clint Bowyer will be switching from the #07 car to the #33 in 2009. Casey Mears joins RCR and will take over the #07. All of this info is according to NASCAR.com. In addition, NASCAR.co is also showing Reed Sorenson as the driver listed in the former Petty and now GEM car #43 repalcing Labonte. Sorenson drove the #41 for Gnassi Racing which has now merged with DEI and switched from Dodge to Chevy. So, it now looks as if Labonte just may land in the #41 car for Earnhardt/Gnassi. And, that is okay for this Labonte fan, as long he is back in a Chevy and one that can win.