Hall of Fame Racing interested in Bobby Labonte for 2010; expects Yates deal to end
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Monday, August 31, 2009
Hall of Fame Racing co-owner Tom Garfinkel says the team is interested in racing with Bobby Labonte in the future.
Jeff Robinson
NASCAR Scene
Hall of Fame Racing would like to keep Bobby Labonte as its NASCAR Sprint Cup driver and likely will not be affiliated with Yates Racing next year, team co-owner Tom Garfinkel said Monday.
The organization signed Ask.com as a sponsor and Bobby Labonte as a driver in January for the 2009 season and then landed a deal with Yates Racing for Yates to field the cars. Seven of the final 12 races were unsponsored, and Yates Racing has opted to put Erik Darnell in the No. 96 Sprint Cup car instead of Labonte.
Garfinkel, in a phone interview, said his organization is still in discussions with Ask.com for next season but doesn’t anticipate the Yates Racing relationship to continue. The organization is looking for other teams to partner with and is in discussions with other sponsors as well, Garfinkel said.
“As far as Yates Racing, it has been a good relationship. I think they’re starting to move forward on some plans for next year,” Garfinkel said. “We don’t have our plans for next year finalized yet, and in all likelihood, we’ll be going a different direction from a team partnership standpoint.”
Hall of Fame remains committed to the 2000 Cup champion as a driver and would like him to continue as its driver in 2010 if possible, Garfinkel said. He wouldn’t say specifically if he agreed with the decision to pull Labonte, who is 30th in points, for select races this season.
“For us, Bobby is our driver and will be for all the races that we have control over for the rest of the year,” Garfinkel said. “This was a decision that Yates Racing had the contractual right to change the driver for some of the races. They made that decision in what they believe is in the best interest for their business, and they’re entitled to that. They have to do what they think is best for their business. … We think the world of Bobby Labonte as a race-car driver and as a person.
“We’d love to continue to be involved with Bobby. That’s not entirely up to us. We want what’s best for Bobby. If that means he’s still with us, we’d be thrilled.”
Of course, the organization needs to sign a sponsor and sign a partnership for another team to field the cars – or find a shop to run the team out of along with deals for cars and engines. The race team, which worked out of its own shop but received cars and engines from Joe Gibbs Racing for three seasons, is in its fourth season and its second full season under ownership from Garfinkel and Jeff Moorad. Moorad owns the San Diego Padres, and Garfinkel is the team president.
“We’re interested in developing a long-term partnership with somebody,” Garfinkel said. “We’ve got a couple of different options right now that we’re investigating that we’re excited about. We’ll see where that takes us.”
Garfinkel said the organization is talking to potential sponsors, including some that are not involved in the sport.
“With Ask.com, we continue to have conversations with them about next year,” Garfinkel said. “Our partnership with Ask has been great all year. They’ve been very open and transparent with us with the market testing they’ve been doing with other teams, and they told us all about that before they started talking to other teams.
“We’ve had a great partnership with them and hope to continue that partnership.”
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9 responses to "Hall of Fame Racing interested in Bobby Labonte for 2010; expects Yates deal to end". Post a Comment.
TrackDebris said:
Aug 31, 2009 at 2:45 PMOne's gotta be mighty desperate to drive the 96 car for HOF. It's a career killer!
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» Confirm Abuse Reporttinynascarfan said:
Aug 31, 2009 at 2:46 PMwho gets the owner points at the end of the year? Hall of fame, or Yates? Hall of Fame will be fine with or without them,as bobby will be the most recent past champion not locked in, but it could really put a hurtin on yates, with just one car locked in for the daytona 500 all the way through bristol. Unless nascar lets Jack roush move his points along with his team and i dont think they will, look at the reutimann/jarrett fiasco last year. Yates could be in some serious trouble, maybe they could re-sign david gilliand, he has made every race he has attemped this year i think. the points started from yates this year so i assume they will be yates when the year concludes, if not, then that was a horrible deal.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportTrackDebris said:
Aug 31, 2009 at 2:52 PMHOF will die on the vine without Yates.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportPhoenix987 said:
Aug 31, 2009 at 4:38 PMSo basically, he is saying that he wants Bobby as his driver, but due to the contract he signed, Yates had the ultimate call. He's realized how bad of an idea that was, and now wants out.
Report as AbuseSure, the 96 car isn't good, but they're pretty desperate it sounds. I could see them teaming with Penske or Hendrick, or hell even EGR next year. They want to run, and according to the owners' points, they control the 96's points. Anyone looking to expand could get a good deal (EGR needs to fill a seat, SHR could theoretically expand here...).
Yates is a shadow of what it once was. They're a backmarker now and I don't think Menard has had a Top 10 all season.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportkdbc said:
Aug 31, 2009 at 6:39 PMPoints for the #96 may not matter at the end of the year. With Bobby out of the car it's a good possiblity the #96 will drop like a rock right out of the top 35.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportPhoenix987 said:
Aug 31, 2009 at 7:50 PMIt might, but I doubt it. They're in 30th in the owners' points standings, with 2120 points. 36th is Scott Speed's #82, at 1663 points. They're almost 460 points in front of 36th, and it's not like the #82 is going to suddenly start running top 5 every race. Sure, I guess in 12 races that they could lose that much, but I just don't see it happening. The 96 hasn't had a good year, but they have been good enough to get almost fully funded, which even some of the current chase teams can't say.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportNickDizzle7 said:
Aug 31, 2009 at 10:22 PMSince Red Bull is staying with Toyota, Theres still an opening for a Hendrick affilation. Last time HOF ran Chevys with JGR engines, Tony Raines had some decent runs. With Hendrick, and Bobby still in the car, they could get back on track and be better.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportjbbigrod said:
Aug 31, 2009 at 11:35 PMThe PROBLEM was HOF couldn't get sponsorship of 7 of the last twelve races of this season. And since there is no sponsorship they can't run. Not unless they want to spend their own money, which it doesn't sound like they are willing to do. So this leaves Yates with the car for seven races to do with what they like. And since Erik Darnell is going to race FULL time in NW next year, and obviously some Cup races, they are getting him used to the tracks and a head start on his cup career. He is young and a good driver as is Colin Braun, both are going full time in NW next year. Ford decided it didn't pay to put more cars into the truck series, so they will be concentrating mainly on the NW and Cup series. With 8 cars altogether for Roush and as many as they can for Yates. - - - Menard did excellent in the race yeasterday, until the stupid crash that put him out too. I was very impressed by his driving yesterday. He is a heck of a road racer. I am sure Jack sees this too and that is why he wants Paul to race for him fulltime in NW next year.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportgalvan18244 said:
Sep 1, 2009 at 1:51 AMHOF should run with penske next year!!! run justin alliager with it!!! but hof does suck....so maybe they should go back to toyota ha
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