Bobby Labonte - Officiall relegated to S&P

[dpkimmel2001]

Interesting scanner bytes from this past weekend.....

Bobby Labonte retired from this Sunday’s Cup race after only 89 laps for electrical reasons (read: a dead battery). After pulling into the garage and asking his team about making repairs and returning to the track, the No. 09 crew chief radioed to his driver, “You’ve got to give me a really good reason to race, or else I’m gonna get into a pile of trouble.”

The next radio transmission was even more dire. “Yeah, unless we have a sponsor, we’ve got to be smart about this,” said an as-yet-unidentified voice on the scanner. “With the engines lasting two or three weeks, we can’t afford to race just because we can.”

So with that, James Finch’s unsponsored program packed up and called it a day, the nail in the coffin of a now-unfulfilled promise by his driver. Remember when Labonte left his full-time ride in TRG Motorsports’ No. 71 for being unwilling to drive a start-and-park entry? That’s not meant to be a knock on the 2000 Cup champ, as the stable of rides in the Cup garage frankly isn’t offering a lot outside of start-and-parks.

From The Frontstretch

 

[ted@economy]

A sad commentary on the state of the economy.Seems this month is taken up with bad news on that front.

 

[carsntunes]

At least he has the promise of next year with a fully funded team.

 

[SpeedPagan]

At least he has the promise of next year with a fully funded team.

Yea, but promises can fall through.

 

[kkfan91]

still had time to turn Scott Speed...the resulting fender damage obviously kept him from making it to lap 100