Hall of Fame Racing interested in Bobby Labonte for 2010; expects Yates deal to end
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.”
