Bobby Labonte and Petty part ways

#5
#5
Actually I think the Earnhardt-Ganassi team has a chance to be pretty good at times. Having Labonte, Montoya, and Truex all on the same team could be good for the organization. I think its like going from a car that has a chance to run in the top 10 a couple of times a year and is basically a 30th place car to a car that has a chance to win a couple of times a year and is basically a 15th-20th place car most of the time. Its definitely a step up IMO. Now they just need a sponsor for that team......
 
#6
#6
DownNDirty said:
Actually I think the Earnhardt-Ganassi team has a chance to be pretty good at times. Having Labonte, Montoya, and Truex all on the same team could be good for the organization. I think its like going from a car that has a chance to run in the top 10 a couple of times a year and is basically a 30th place car to a car that has a chance to win a couple of times a year and is basically a 15th-20th place car most of the time. Its definitely a step up IMO. Now they just need a sponsor for that team......
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Exactly. EGR, while rather unstable themselves, is miles ahead of Petty Enterprises.

I'm looking forward to seeing how Montoya performs next year. I think he'll be the real winner in the Ganassi/TEI merger. Mark Martin was competitive on several occasions this year and Dale Jr.'s performance at HMS this year showed that TEI's equipment isn't as bad as everyone once thought.
 
#8
#8
Bobby and R. Loomis probably both wish they had left when they had other offers. I can emagine we have all been on that side of the fence at one time or another though. He will be ok at whatever TEI and Ganassi is called. Will he have points from the 15 or the 01 now? It had been reported that their top 35 spots had been given to other teams.
 
#9
#9
If he drives the 41 he'll have the 41 points from last year - Reed Sorenson's points. So he'll still be in the top 35 solidly for the first 5 races.
 
#12
#12
Personally I think it basically came down to Petty's just not having a sponsor for either car for next year. Bobby had his own spokesman contract with General Mills so EVERYONE thought he'd land at RCR when they announced General Mills would be the sponsor on their 4th car next year. Bobby decided - for whatever reason - to stay loyal to the Petty team. Maybe he truly felt they'd turn it around and Boston Ventures would help secure sponsorship for him. Or maybe, just maybe, Bobby didn't mind being out of the limelight. He's a more private person just like his brother. He didn't have high expectations at Petty and maybe he was content to run where he was and not have to worry about the high pressure demands of Cup owners for performance. At Petty he knew he had what he had and Petty wasn't going to run him out of town for running mediocre.

With the handwriting on the wall and the merger looking like its going to go through Petty decided to do the right thing for Bobby and let him go elsewhere. This way Bobby can maybe have something setup for next year in the next couple of weeks. I think the Ganassi-Earnhardt ride would be a good fit for him. This team won't be as strong as Childress but remember they do share engine technology so it has the "potential" to be a competitive team next year with Labonte, Truex, and Montoya. Now Bobb-o just needs a sponsor on his #41 car. That is unless Target stays with that team instead of splitting the sponsorship of Montoya with Wrigley's.
 
#13
#13
tidwell said:
Exactly. EGR, while rather unstable themselves, is miles ahead of Petty Enterprises.

I'm looking forward to seeing how Montoya performs next year. I think he'll be the real winner in the Ganassi/TEI merger. Mark Martin was competitive on several occasions this year and Dale Jr.'s performance at HMS this year showed that TEI's equipment isn't as bad as everyone once thought.
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I believe the stats would show a marked improvement for Junior this past year. Won a race, made the Chase, and ran competitively at most tracks. Probably would have won another race or two without Eury's poor decisions.
 
#14
#14
If not for all the blown engines in '07 at TEI, that season isn't much different/better or worse than '08.

For example, he had only 16 top tens in '08 compared to 12 in '07, with seven or eight blown engines.
 
#16
#16
I'm not arguing that, I'm just saying the in race performance in '07 before the engines failed wasn't any better or worse than how he ran in '08.

TEI's engines were a lot better/more reliable in '08, so I feel pretty confident that Dale Jr. could have still finished 12th int he points and maybe even luck into a fuel mileage win driving TEI cars this season.

Dale Jr. is my favorite driver, by the way.
 
#17
#17
I can't believe that Bobby didn't want to stick around and see how things were going to work out with the merger. GEM has as much capital as anyone in the garage and I think they will do really well next year if they can get good drivers in the vehicles.
 
#18
#18
Sabanocchio said:
I can't believe that Bobby didn't want to stick around and see how things were going to work out with the merger. GEM has as much capital as anyone in the garage and I think they will do really well next year if they can get good drivers in the vehicles.
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With all the uncertinty with Petty and the possibality of Ray leaving GEM, TEI Ganassi probably looks more stable.
He probably really wishes he had followed General Mills to Childress when that was an option.
 
#19
#19
I can't believe he was actually offered that ride at RCR and turned it down, especially considering that Childress is basically demoting Bowyer to the brand new team and giving Mears a crew/team/cars that has made the Chase a couple years in a row.
 
#20
#20
Sabanocchio said:
I can't believe that Bobby didn't want to stick around and see how things were going to work out with the merger. GEM has as much capital as anyone in the garage and I think they will do really well next year if they can get good drivers in the vehicles.
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I think he saw the writing on the wall there. If GEM does keep the #43 car they already have another driver they are salivating over to put in that car - AJ Allmendinger. And frankly I don't blame them - I like Bobby alot but AJ could be a superstar in this sport and he's still very young and marketable. He outran all of the other GEM cars toward the end of last year when they put him in the #10 car. If they hadn't already signed Reed Sorenson to a contract for the #10 car for next year I'm sure they would have kept AJ in that car.
 
#21
#21
tidwell said:
I can't believe he was actually offered that ride at RCR and turned it down, especially considering that Childress is basically demoting Bowyer to the brand new team and giving Mears a crew/team/cars that has made the Chase a couple years in a row.
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Bowyer is getting Shane Wilson - his Nationwide crew chief. I'm sure he doesn't love the idea of losing some of his team but some are actually going with him and they are rearranging the teams at RCR. He and Wilson are good friends so it might not be too painful of a transition for him. Plus its not like being demoted besides the fact that team won't have the points. Jack Daniels is only signed through next season an General Mills is probably going to be one of the highest paying sponsors in the sport at RCR. They'll expect that car to run well and I expect Childress will do everything he can to make sure it does.

I just have a feeling that the 07 car next year will become the 4th car on the RCR ladder and Bowyer's "new" team will do nearly as well as he done this past year.
 
#22
#22
I'm pretty sure Bowyer's crew chief, at least this past season, in the Busch Series was some Deeringoff (sp?) guy. Wilson has been in and around the RCR/KHI teams lately, though.

Both Bowyer and Gil Martin have openly admitted they're not too excited about being separated, and I don't blame them. It's one thing to move things around if you're signing a top of the line driver... but Casey Mears?
 
#23
#23
You are right - Wilson was the CC for the #21 car which was part time last year and full time the year before with Harvick. Brain fade.....

Yeah, I'm still undecided on Casey Mears but it could be a good move - who knows. But like I said in my preview post when I think of Jack Daniels he would be about the last person I would think of to be a spokesperson for them.
 
#25
#25
TennesseeFan07 said:
Jr's season was better. He has a better crew(not Eury), better equipment, and a better owner. I can't believe this is even being debated.
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he didn't finish any higher in the points than he ever did at DEI and he only won one race. i'd say it's about even with his best seasons at DEI.

the only difference between last year and this one is he didn't blow as many engines this year.
 
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