Labonte leaving Pettys?

A report by Yahoo! Sports states that Bobby Labonte "likely'' will drive a fourth car for Richard Childress Racing next season and could take General Mills with him as a sponsor. The report cited unidentified sources.

 

I went to Labonte on Saturday to ask him about the report. Here's what he said.

 

Q: What about the report?

 

LABONTE: "I just say that kind of like where that world is. I don't really believe a whole lot of stuff that you read and half of what you say sometimes, so I don't put nothing into it. What's the good of any? That's crap.''

 

Q: Robbie Loomis said the Pettys have presented you a contract offer, so what's the next step as you consider your future?

 

LABONTE: "Behind closed doors you work on it yourself. You don't need to know about it. You know what I mean? It's just the way it is. That's my next step (laughing). My next step is not to talk about it to you (laughing).

 

I also talked to Robbie Loomis, VP of operations at Petty, about the report. Here's what he had to say:

 

Q: What about the report?

 

LOOMIS: "I think that everybody knows that Bobby came here with a three-year deal. We're negotiating with him right now, in the middle of that. As far as the General Mills part, that was pretty outlandish I thought because we have a lot of things in our contract how specifically they won't touch a sponsor that is with alcohol, so for the General Mills piece to be going over (to RCR, which has Jack Daniel's as sponsor of the 07 car) ... I really find surprising. It's something we're in negotitations for sure and see where everything shakes out.

 

Q: What do you mean by negotiations with Labonte? Define where that is.

 

LOOMIS: "By the end of the year his current contract will be up, the end of '08, so you start negotiating to see if he wants to stay and he wants to make sure we're making the steps of improvement. It's just a shame that the story come out now because it disrupts the guys on the team and we're doing a lot of good things. We've got (crew chief) Jeff Meendering on board. The presence of the race team, moving to the race shop, so many goodt things going on, you hate to have an outside circulating story affect the inside.

 

Q: Where are you in the negotiations?

 

LOOMIS: "He has a contract from us. It's up to him what he wants to do with it, hopefully, he wants to sign it. We'd really like Bobby Labonte to finish career out with Petty Enterprises and the contract that's presented is kind of laid out that way. We think his values and what he stands for is a good fit for us. We'll see where the future is.''

 

Q: When do you need an answer?

 

LOOMIS: "It's hard to say. We haven't really put a timeframe on it. Obviously the earlier the better so that everybody can get their eyes back on the racing.''

 

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Rain shortened Cup practice Saturday. Here are the top speeds:

 

1. Jeff Gordon ... 179.569

2. Carl Edwards ... 179.180

3. Greg Biffle ... 178.909

4. Mark Martin ... 178.891

5. Matt Kenseth ... 178.820

6. Clint Bowyer ... 178.580

7. Reed Sorenson ... 178.527

8. Denny Hamlin ... 178.474

9. Tony Stewart ... 178.240

10. Elliott Sadler ... 178.218

11. Kevin Harvick ... 178.020

12. David Ragan ... 177.984

13. Juan Pablo Montoya ... 177.822

14. Kasey Kahne ... 177.747

15. Casey Mears ... 177.659

 

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