Bobby Labonte was a “start & park” for 3 of the last 5 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races he was in, under the TRG Motorsports banner. Can you imagine, after being the 2000 Cup champ, to then become second fiddle to the young, marketing-based driving talent pool, and being further reduced to a “Start & Park” that fans scoff at?
It’s a sad thing indeed. Bobby needs a break, a good break at that, like Mark Martin has had under the Hendricks roof, but he’s not had it. Does he deserve it and can he pull it off? I don’t know. Being a fan, I’d love to think so.
This weekend at New Hampshire, Bobby will be behind the wheel of the Robby Gordon Motorsports car. He’ll also be manning the RGM machine at Phoenix Racing & then Daytona and Chicagoland.
Bobby Labonte has terminated his contract with TRG Motorsports because he did not want to be a Start & Park. It’s no one’s fault really. It’s a tough business to be in but Bobby wants what’s best for Bobby and that is completely understandable.
He did put it in interesting terms that made complete sense:
“We didn’t have a teammate to lean on,” Labonte said. “We purchased some cars and … these [competitors] are the best of the best. The best of the best have four teams or six teams or more. When you add it all up, there’s 28 of those. When you’re 29th, you’re next in that line.“
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I’ve seen good independent teams that don’t have the skill behind the wheel and I’ve seen skill behind the wheel that didn’t have the team behind them.
Do you remember when Mark Martin was behind the wheel of the independent team of Ginn Racing? That’s a great example of a good independent team with a good driver.
Robby Gordon Motorsports No. 7 car
I have a pretty good feeling about Bobby behind the wheel of an RGM car. With Penske engines under the hood, as a fan of Bobby’s, I have some breathing room. Now if they could just get themselves some good qualifying runs, get securely into the top 35, I really think they can catch a break. If they would stop catching bad breaks that is.
Or as Bobby put it & I interpreted, shooting for that 29th spot!
Qualifying Effort Trashed
Ack, Bobby had spun and smacked the car at the end of practice and during qualifying, NASCAR put the team under the 5-minute clock, but inspection on the back-up car took so long that they were not able to qualify. They are locked into the top-35, but really, should the 5-minute clock restriction include the mandatory NASCAR inspection process?
Well, good luck to Bobby Labonte in Sunday’s Industrial Lennox 301.
[ Fox News, Fox Sports, ]
