Bobby Labonte to Leave Joe Gibbs Racing

[AMC]

What does this mean in terms of 2006 drivers????

Labonte to Ganassi??

Who goes into the 18???

http://www.sportsline.com/autoracing/story/9029218

[Kirkendall]

Ganassi's lineup is set for next year.

#42 - Casey Mears

#41 - Reed Sorenson

#40 - David Streme

(yea, I didn't see McMurray's name there either).

OK, just checked Ganassi's site. http://www.chipganassiracing.com/

McMurray officially released.

OK, just checked Jayski.. he's all over the shiznit.

Busch released: http://www.roushracing.com/jack_roush/defa...b110705_251.htm

Penske announcement: http://www.penskeracing.com/news.asp?chaid=104928

So this is Roush:

#6 - Martin

#16 - Biffle

#17 - Kenseth

#97 (to become the #28?) - McMurray

#99 - Edwards

This is Ganassi

#42 - Casey Mears

#41 - Reed Sorenson

#40 - David Streme

This is Penske

#2 - Busch

#12 - Newman

#77 - Kvapil

This is DEI

#8 - Jr.

#1 - Truex

#15 - Menard on partial schedule

Nothing new at Hendricks.

So who drives the #18? J.J. Yeley?

[AMC]

The 18 and 11??? Gibbs has some big rides to fill....Yeley seems like a candidate for both rides....Hamlin has looked decent in the 11....

Labonte still searching???

[Kirkendall]

Hamlin already signed an extension. He's running the #11 full-time next season as well as the #20 in the Busch series full-time. He'll have 70 races to compete in...

This kid looks good though..

The #11 already released their 2006 paint schemes. A lot of black.

More here http://www.jayski.com/schemes/2006/11cup.htm

[AMC]

Bobby Labonte to the #43? UPDATE 3 Labonte parts ways with JGR: Bobby Labonte to the #43 Petty Enterprises ride Jeff Green would vacate [for the #0 Chevy].(Sporting News)(10-17-2005)

UPDATE: Speed Channel's Bob Dillner reported on Saturday's Speed News that he is hearing Bobby Labonte will go to Petty Enterprises and drive the famed #43 Dodge....while I WAS hearing he would go to Ganassi Racing in the #42, it seems that deal broke down and ALSO hearing Labonte could end up in the #22 Caterpillar Dodge....looks like the Dodge part is a lock.(11-6-2005)

Would be interesting to see Labonte in the 43....Petty needs a big time driver....

[TonyFan20]

Going to be really weird to not see Bobby in a green car and not driving for JGR. Denny sure has been impressive in that 11 car. Im not sure who will go in the 18. Probably Yeley but i would rather see him get another year of Busch under his belt before he goes full time Cup. Could end up that Tony will have 2 rookies as teammates. Should be intresting.

[AMC]

It's official...Labonte to the 43....

http://www.sportsline.com/autoracing/story/9037653

[BengalszoneBilly]

Petty Enterprises claims to be taking the next step towards returning to prominence, but then they sign Bobby Labotomy as a driver!?! Well I'll agree they took a step alright, but it appears to me that they're moonwalking, because that step is backwards in direction.

Since the Nascar Chase format began, at no time whatsoever has he been considered a serious contender to get in. It ain't the equipments fault either, because his teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing Tubby, uh...er, I mean Tony Stewart has consistently been a contender!

Would Joe Gibbs play favorites? Sure he would...the day after Bush admits he knew there were never any weapons of mass destruction, and Bill Clinton admits he's a black man at heart because he plays saxaphone, and loves banging fat white women!

Actually, even if they go with another driver with more potential than Bobby, it isn't the biggest step available for them towards returning to prominence. That would be to have Kyle Petty get the hell out of his car and give someone worthy a shot, because aside from Kenny Wallace...there's no bigger joke in Cup racing! Poor Kyle didn't get any of his dads good driving genes, but at least King Richard knew when to hang 'em up! The way Kyle's just hanging on just because his last name is "Petty," he'll eventually make the end of Darrell Waltrips career look respectable, and we all remember how pathetic that was!

[WVUBengal]

I understand Billy how you feel about the Petty Enterprises "stepping up", with Bobby Labonte. Although he may not be the best driver I would rather have him in the car than Jeff Green. Labonte at least brings some credibility to the ride with being the 2000 Champion. I know Petty Enterprises won't be a powerhouse or may not even be in the top 20-25 next year but it would be nice to see them do well. It would be good to see the program step up some since it seems like forever since they won and had a competitive team.

[BengalszoneBilly]

I understand Billy how you feel about the Petty Enterprises "stepping up", with Bobby Labonte. Although he may not be the best driver I would rather have him in the car than Jeff Green. Labonte at least brings some credibility to the ride with being the 2000 Champion. I know Petty Enterprises won't be a powerhouse or may not even be in the top 20-25 next year but it would be nice to see them do well. It would be good to see the program step up some since it seems like forever since they won and had a competitive team.

True. Labonte is light years better than Petty or Green, but my honest opinion is that they need to scrap the whole operation and start from scratch. Trying to get this broken organization to work by making miniscule upgrades here and there is as pointless as putting 32mb's more of SDRAM into your 100MHz Pentium MMX computer to get your Windows 3.1 to stop freezing during your daily heavy sessions of Tetris! The time to just say f**k it and trash the whole works came and went YEARS ago...