September 4th, 2009 
Journo Earlier this week Yates Racing announced Erik Darnell would run seven races this season (beginning this weekend at Atlanta) in the #96 Hall Of Fame Racing car. This of course meant Bobby Labonte was out of a ride, at least temporarily on that end. He of course will likely continue his consecutive race streak with TRG Motorsports who on Thursday announced Labonte would run those seven races with them.
Before I launch into what I’m about to say, let me emphasize I think both Bobby Labonte and Erik Darnell are great and talented guys; neither would be where they are if they weren’t. I honestly don’t have a bad thing to say about either of them and certainly don’t write this with malice toward either side.
Since the announcement was made there has been a lot of discussion about the “fairness” of this deal. Many have said that Yates is stabbing Labonte in the back, and that Labonte was being punished for his loyalty. Others seem to characterize Darnell as the bad guy, making it out like he bought this ride out from under Labonte.
Unfortunately none of the above are true.
Bobby Labonte entered 2009 with two options: go to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with only partial sponsorship and hope something comes through; or go to Hall of Fame Racing with Ask.com and have assurances for most of the season. We know which he picked.
Unfortunately, like his option one, there wasn’t sponsorship for the entire season with Hall of Fame, something that was very clear from the beginning. Obviously the hope was they would close those gaps before those races came.
As such Roush and Yates did what they could, tapped their present sponsors and they got a bite. Northern Tool and Equipment a long time supporter of Erik Darnell came through, but with Darnell, not with Labonte. Academy Sports and Outdoors, a previous sponsor of Labonte’s at Hall of Fame, is also sponsoring Darnell for three races.
Beyond being a former champion and all around good guy Labonte isn’t necessarily an easy sell. His performance over the previous five seasons has waned and this season has been no different. The only bright spots were a fifth place finish at Las Vegas and a 12th place finish at Charlotte. He presently sits 30th in points.
I know there are some out there that will say Labonte hasn’t been in the greatest equipment since leaving Gibbs, and I certainly won’t disagree. Consider though that during his final season with Gibbs in 2005 Labonte had just four top-fives and seven top-10s. He finished 24th in points while his teammate Tony Stewart won the championship with five wins, 17 top-fives, and 25 top-10s. The previous season he had five top-fives, 11 top-10s and finished 12th in points. The fact is he was with a very good team and didn’t do much.
Labonte, at this point in his career just doesn’t have what he used to have (look at his stats if you don’t believe me). He’s good for making races and finishing races, but competing for wins and running up front likely won’t happen.
On Labonte’s replacement, I know many of you will say he hasn’t done a whole lot and doesn’t deserve this. I would tend not to agree.
In his very short career Darnell has three full seasons in the Truck Series with Roush and two wins. He finished fourth in the points in 2008. This season he has had ten starts in the Nationwide Series but has run pretty well, racking up two top-fives, five top-10s and an average finish of 12.3.
On top of that he has something Labonte doesn’t have: youth and potential. I think given time Darnell could be good. Unfortunately running a limited schedule is not the best way to continue to develop as a driver.
I caution everyone though not to blame this move on Darnell or somehow develop ill will for the him. He’s not Paul Menard or John Wes Townley; by no means is he buying this ride. This decision was made by Roush and Yates, not by him and he should not be punished by the fans because he has developed a good relationship with a sponsor.
Likewise I find it more than a little disappointing to read comments from people wishing to see Darnell fail. Why? I understand the intense feelings and allegiances of fans, but put yourself in his shoes. Would you turn down this opportunity? I sure wouldn’t.
Like we have said so many times before, this sport is first and foremost a business and this was a good business move for Yates. Doug Yates and Max Jones can not afford to operate a team unsponsored. They were given an opportunity to keep the car running, with funding, with another promising driver and they took it. Unfortunately Labonte was the odd man out.
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I am amazed at the amount of wailing and whining over Bobby Labonte getting shuffled out of Yates for a few races. Now, he has a ride in 7 races with TRG. No one thought it was a bad deal when Labonte stepped into the Yates ride, the one that David Gilliland had. Everyone thought it was a good deal for Yates. Well, gee..how did that work out? Twelve races to go in the season, and Labonte’s points are less than Gillilands were in the same equipment.
Now, once again, Labonte is going to get into a ride that David Gilliland has put his heart and soul into. Buckler at TRG has been talking about how great David is, and how they want him to be at the center of their program next year. David has worked his butt off for TRG, he has done everything asked…even the dreaded Start and Park. And now, Bobby gets David’s car again!
I am sure that David is beginning to think that he is warming seats in cars, waiting for Bobby to come along and get that same ride. Now, the questions is….will Bobby be better than David in the same ride? Hard to tell, but the cars are older generation cars. And the last race at Bristol? And old stressed out part failed, ending a solid run in the top 15.
Don’t get me wrong. Bobby is a nice guy. I like him a lot. I just don’t like the part he plays in Gilliland’s career, intentional or not.
its funny that labonte follows David gilliland again, throwing david out of a well deserved ride, to force a drive to do start and parks with the promise of running some full races when they make enough money. well he did and what happen–TRG took the money and ran andy lally in davids car with his crew and crew chief, then give david a pile of junk car to try to qualify. that car was two full seconds slower than the slowest car there yet he only missed the show by.002 seconds. this was the only race david did not qualify of all year. poor equipment kills his day then they give him a car at bristle, real fast but three years old and as expected, the withered ball joint lets go while running top 15 most the day and lap speeds faster than the leaders. again poor equipment kills a good run. now he is promised just three days ago he would get his shot racing at his favorite track in a press release. then today the put him out for bobby AND put him in a car with the sponsor that david was to drive for. bobby brings no sponsor money, a poorer track record, and sidelines David. shame on TRG, you lost all my respect. there is no honor among thieves. typical business management degree operating procedures–use every body you can then dump them–it’s all about me.Kevin buckler-your business plan you call so great -stinks and you self- respect is all but gone
Being a NASCAR fan I am not liking how this sport has changed over the years. It used to be that people got rides because of the talent they are and not because they have a sponsor. Yeah I agree its not Eric’s fault this has happened but I put the blame on Yates and that idiot Roush, PUT A BETTER TEAM UNDER BOBBY AND YOU WOULD GET A SPONSOR, end of story.
I couldn’t agree more. Darnell is a talented driver who has earned the opportunity is is receiving. He has a tremendous upside as a driver, and with the right team he could be a top driver in a few years.
And I’m glad to see someone assess Labonte’s situation without pulling punches. I’ve always liked the guy and he was one of my favorite drivers, but his performance since leaving (by his own choosing!) JGR is that of a driver with diminishing skill and/or desire, and he doesn’t seem like the same guy who who the Cup title in 2000. Even if he was driving for one of the top teams, I doubt that he would enjoy the type of success he had early in the decade.
Darnell seems like the type of driver you can build a team around. You can’t say that about Labonte, whose greatest value now, I’m sorry to say, is the champion’s provisional that he drags from garage to garage.
I would argue that the odd man out is David Gilliland. David performed great at Bristol once the team had a sponsor, but a cut tire relegated him to 39th, even though he was 9th when it happened. He was running in the top 10 the whole night up to that point. Personally, I love Bobby, but feel like he is stabbing Gilliland in the back taking a ride from a driver that has been loyal to a start & park team. When that team has a sponsor, they can perform. But now that they have TaxSlayer on board, Bobby is stepping in for no other reason than to keep a streak alive. Personally, I wish them well, but this is a bad situation for everyone involved.
Thank you. Finally someone telling the truth about this situation. Erik is a great driver and shouldn’t be thrown under the bus for this opportunity. Those who are making ill comments are not true race fans. Besides, teams have been doing this since the sport’s inception.
Great analysis of the situation and quite interesting comments afterwards. This blog is one of the best!
You could almost substitute Timothy Peters & Johnny Benson for Erik & Bobby in this article the situations are so similar. Only difference is Johnny was top 10 (top 5? I can’t remember) & the reigning truck series champ when he was sent packing. This is cup though & not the truck series.
Let’s see if Erik can do what Timothy is doing with his opportunity & turn some heads. Equipment is the limiting factor here though.
I’m not sure how everyone thinks Darnell ‘deserves’ this spot. Running well in the truck series and Nationwide series is completely different than racing in Sprint Cup. I’ve worked in this industry for years and can tell you that he’s not ready with only 10 starts in Nationwide. Sprint Cup is just a different ball game. Sure, Bobby’s performance has dropped. But his desire to win remains and with the right equipment, I believe he could follow in Mark Martin’s shoes. The problem with Yates is cost. They run on the coat tales of Roush and run with their hand-me-downs. Please explain to me how you can run up front under those circumstances.
Business is business. And it takes big bucks to run all 36 Cup races.
Even in good economic times, it was risky to announce your team was going to run the whole Cup schedule when you only had sponsorship to cover part of the season. Labonte and HOF had to know this going into the Ask.com deal.
Yates (er, actually Roush-Fenway) is trying to protect the investment in this team. And maybe Darnell has a really good showing in his runs in the #96.
Let’s not forget that in recent Roush history, he pulled two popular drivers late in the season (Chad Little in the #97 and Jeff Burton in the #99) and replaced them with “unknowns” (Kurt Busch in the #97 and Carl Edwards in the #99).
Yates should put Gilliland and Kvapil back in his cars. Secondly Menard sucks ,can him, and put Darnell in the 3rd car they gave up too much for Menard and Labonte to be on the team. They should also have kept Stephen Leicht. That would have given them a younger core of pretty decent racers. They are trying to recapture some magic these drivers had years ago or never had at all.
If Ask.com only signed on for a certain number of races with Yates & BL, then doesn’t it make perfect sense that Yates puts Darnell w/ Northen Tool money in for those unsponsored races???
The alternative for the team, crew and their families is to go without pay for those unsponsored races. Now that makes no sense whatsoever.
I….like most of you, have always been a BL fan. If BL wanted to stay in that ride for all of the races, would it be reasonable to expect BL to personally drum up sponsorship to secure the spot? I would think being a past Champion, experienced and polished speaker and all around good guy would draw some attention and coin. Maybe, just maybe, BL doesn’t really want the Yates ride. I’m just sayin’….
Gilliland and Kvapil had better finishes last year with week to week sponsorship than Labonte and Menard. Now Labonte comes along again and takes Gilliland’s ride. TRG has no class. David has made race after race for them and parked. When they get mony to race they kick him out and put Bobby in.
Do not forget, it isn’t like Yates Racing is on the verge of bankruptcy. They are a mulit-million dollar 2 – car Cup team. They can survive 7 races unsponsored. I don’t think Darnell is 100% ready yet, 1 full Nationwide season & he should be ready to go. Roush has always been one of the top teams in Nationwide & Truck Series. On the Cup side, Roush & Yates have not had the same success as in past seasons.
But nobody loses in this deal. Darnell gets to make his debut, Yates gets $, Labonte can continue his consecutive starts, & Gilliland will driver the #21, which is much better than the #71. He has a great opportunity in the #02 later this year as well.
I agree with you 100% on this one Journo. I really don’t think anyone is the “bad guy” in this situation. This is where the economy is right now. Yates is trying to get his team back up to speed and it is almost impossible with out sponsers. I like Bobby too. I was really hoping he would have a good year this year but it just hasn’t happend. I wish Eric the best in his ride with Yates. I also wish the best for Bobby with TRG and lastly I wish David Gilliland sucess this weekend as he is subbing for Bill Elliott in the Wood Brothers Ford. It would be nice to see him get a good finish for those guys.
I’m still confused on the HOF-Yates arrangement that ends up with Yates being able to call the shots, but it does seem to me that the real culprit is the unusual economic times. I wonder whether fill-in sponsorship could have been found a year or 2 ago, and whether Yates might have been willing to run the HOF car unsponsored for a race or 2 if they had not had to run so many races last year unsponsored.
I recall and article from years back about Labonte not getting much money from Interstate batteries. That meant his cars were not as good as his teammates. We see it all the time. The focus was on Tony Stewart Labonte got pushed aside. He can drive, just give him a car capable of running up front. Tony or Jimmie could not get a top 5 in a Yates car. Darnell will find himself in a Gilliland situation. He will be in a crap car and go nowhere and shuffle of to oblivion.
BobbyFan- Having less sponsorship money than your teammate isn’t going to affect the equipment a driver is getting from their team. It all comes from the same place and everyone wants the same result. At no organization that I’m aware of do the teams run completely independent of each other with separate budgets. That’s just not the way things work.
To all you whiner Bobby Labonte drive that 71 car all the way to 10th. Stayed in the top 25 most of the night good pit stops and they seem to get along. And where did the 96 car end up. And Gilliland had a pretty good night. So I say it’s Yates. (Simmer down with the all caps – Journo)
Some of you guys think you know everything. Bobby deserves better and everyone knows this. PETTY SCREWED HIM by making promises that never happend, THEN JACK ROUSH screwed him, the 96 was a test car for Roush. Everyone knows YATES and HOF were just a name, while in truth Jack Roush owned the teams and cars pretty much. Roush should be ashamed of himself, as well as Petty. And as for TRG and KEVIN BUCKLER, just another jerk trying to make a name. Kevin is right up there with Roush; A JERK