Sponsorship woes leave Labonte out of ride for 7 races

Yates Racing announced that Erik Darnell will replace Bobby Labonte for seven of the remaining 12 races this season, starting this weekend at Atlanta.

 

The reason? Sponsorship (and other things).

 

First, let's go to the sponsorship aspect.

 

Recall the 96 car of Labonte is technically owned by Hall of Fame Racing, which partnered with Yates Racing. Essentially, Hall of Fame Racing exists mainly on paper. Most, if not all the people, working on the car came from Yates Racing. It's just that Hall of Fame had sponsorship from Ask.com and DLP. A story in Sports Business Journal this summer reported that Ask.com spent about $10 million to sponsor Labonte's car, have official sponsor status with NASCAR and advertise on Fox at the start of the year. The story stated that Ask.com's sponsorship of Labonte's car was for about $4 million to be the primary sponsor for 18 races. DLP is a holdover sponsor when Hall of Fame Racing ran out of its own shop.

 

Thing is, 7 of the last 12 races there was no sponsor for the 96 car, according to a release from Yates Racing. Max Jones, co-owner of Yates Racing, stated in the release that Yates Racing and Hall of Fame Racing had a one-year agreement that committed Yates Racing to fielding Bobby Labonte in the races where Ask.com and DLP were the primary sponsors. Not all the races were covered by those sponsors, meaning Yates Racing had to go find sponsorship for the remaining open events.

 

OK, now let's recall that Yates Racing is a satellite organization of Roush Fenway Racing, getting equipment and technical help from Roush much like Stewart-Haas gets from Hendrick and such.

 

Well, Roush Fenway Racing has 26-year-old Erik Darnell in its camp. Darnell finished fourth in the truck standings in 2008 and is running a partial schedule in Nationwide. He has five top-10 finishes in 10 starts this season in Nationwide. Thus, Roush is looking for a place to put him,  especially with Colin Braun (7th in the truck standings after being rookie of the year last year) and Ricky Stenhouse, who has started six Nationwide events behind him.

 

So, Roush Fenway Racing is looking for a spot to put a young driver. It has sponsorship -- Academy Sports & Outdoors along with Northern Tool + Equipment. Bobby Labonte does not have sponsonrship for 7 races. See how this works. And while 45-year-old Labonte might have some strong finishes left before he exits the sport, Roush is going to put his resources around the younger Darnell, who could be a future building block of the team.

 

Thus, Darnell will drive the 96 car this weekend at Atlanta and then at New Hampshire at the start of the Chase, Kansas, Talladega, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead. This should give Roush an indication of if Darnell can handle Cup. If he can, it also serves as a test, possibly with the sponsors, to get them to come on longer and maybe they help fund Darnell at Yates Racing next year. Remember, Roush Fenway Racing has to downsize from five Cup teams to four after this season. What you could see is with the 26 team moving to Yates (whether Jamie McMurray joins them is another question) next year, that seat could be filled by Darnell. That team also is looking for sponsorship for next year. One way to entice a sponsor is to give them a low price since they're paired with a young driver and get the sponsor in the sport. That's what could be happening here.

 

As for Labonte, he will drive the car at Richmond, Dover, Fontana, Charlotte and Martinsville when Ask.com or DLP is the primary sponsor.

 

“This is a move that will be beneficial to Yates Racing surviving this difficult economic time,” Labonte said in the team release “Of course, I’m disappointed that the sponsorship environment is so challenging right now, but I intend to make the most out of the remaining races that I’m behind the wheel for Ask.com, DLP and Hall of Fame Racing.”

 

On Twitter, Bobby Labonte wrote this afternoon: "Just a lousy day. But tomorrow will be a new day.''

 

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Later Monday, Richard Childress Racing put out its 2nd release this year stating that Kevin Harvick will be in the No. 29 Shell car next year.

 

Here's the release:

Kevin Harvick will drive Richard Childress Racing’s No. 29 Shell-Pennzoil Chevrolet Impala SS in 2010 for his 10^th season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series despite rumors to the contrary.

 

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