Bobby Labonte leading candidate to fill empty seat at JTG Daugherty Racing
By Bob Pockrass
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Bobby Labonte, who drove for Robby Gordon Motorsports at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, likely will land at JTG Daugherty Racing next year.
Sam Cranston
NASCAR Illustrated
Bobby Labonte is the leading candidate to drive the No. 47 car for JTG Daugherty Racing in 2011, multiple sources confirmed Tuesday.
JTG Daugherty Racing will be the sixth team in four years for Labonte, who left Petty Enterprises after the 2008 season. In 2009, he drove for Hall of Fame Racing in a car fielded by Yates Racing for much of the year but found himself out of a ride late in the season. He drove the remaining races for TRG Motorsports and started 2010 with that organization.
He left that seat in June when the team began having to park early in events because of a lack of funding. He has driven for Robby Gordon Motorsports and Phoenix Racing in the months since then and will be back in a TRG car this weekend at Pocono Raceway.
The 2000 Cup champion, Labonte has 602 career Cup starts with 21 victories.
The 46-year-old Labonte will replace Marcos Ambrose, who announced Tuesday he was parting ways with the team after the 2010 season.
Ambrose moved to Cup along with JTG Racing, an organization with longtime roots in the Nationwide Series under the ownership of Tad Geschickter and wife, Jodi. Brad Daugherty joined the ownership group when they moved to Cup full time in 2009.
A Bobby Labonte spokesman declined to comment.
In the news release Tuesday announcing Ambrose's departure, JTG Daugherty Racing officials stated that they would announce their 2011 plans "in the near future."
"JTG Daugherty Racing has a bright future and we already have great plans in place for the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season," Daugherty said.
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