Many a NASCAR fan must wonder whether it’s Bobby Labonte’s driving or his race cars that have caused his Sprint Cup career to take turns for the worse in recent years.
In 2000, driving the No. 18 car for Joe Gibbs Racing, Labonte, now age 49, was the Sprint Cup champion. In 2003, he won two races, pushing his career total to 21. In 2006, he moved to Richard Petty’s team, hoping to help bring that outfit back to prominence. He started strong, with three top-five and eight top-10 finishes in ’06. Since then, he’s had just two top-five finishes and none since the 2011 Daytona 500.
Some answers to the Labonte question could come this weekend as he and A.J. Allmendinger have essentially switched rides for the Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Last week, Labonte’s team, JTG Daugherty Racing, announced that it was putting Allmendinger in its No. 47 Toyota for five races, beginning this week at Michigan, with Labonte tentatively set to return afterward.
“Bobby Labonte wanted to help our team grow and develop when he signed on with our organization at the beginning of the 2011 season,” team co-owner Brad Daugherty said in a team release. “He continues to do a tremendous job for us. Bobby has given us his ideas for improving the product, and we believe A.J. will do the same.”
Allmendinger said in the same release that he believes he can help the struggling team.
“I have raced for Phoenix Racing some this year and feel confident I’ll be able to provide JTG Daugherty Racing with a good comparison,” Allmendinger said.
Phoenix Racing announced Tuesday that it would put Labonte in the No. 51 Chevrolet. Labonte, who will make his 705th Cup start this weekend, said in a release that his focus is still on helping JTG Daugherty improve its performance.
“They have given me a great opportunity to help this team grow,” he said. “It’s where my focus has been since racing with the team in 2011. I want to see this team get better and will do what I need to do to make that happen.”
Bayne wins milestones: Although he has made only 39 Sprint Cup starts and 97 in the Nationwide Series, and won only three races between the two, Trevor Bayne has scored two of Ford Motor Company's milestone NASCAR victories.
In 2011, he won the Daytona 500 to give Ford its 600th Cup victory, and Sunday at Iowa Speedway he got the manufacturer’s 200th Nationwide Series win.
“We are just showing up for the big ones I guess,” Bayne joked in his winner’s interview at Iowa.
This weekend at Michigan International Speedway, Bayne has two chances to reach another big Ford mark. His Iowa win was the 999th for Ford, and he’s running both the Nationwide and Cup races.
His Cup team also has had success in winning milestone races for Ford. In addition to Bayne’s 2011 victory at Daytona, the Wood Brothers got Ford’s 400th Cup win, at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1993 with Morgan Shepherd driving their No. 21 Ford.
Pioneer dies in shootout: One of the early stars of the NASCAR series now known as Nationwide died last week in a shootout with police in his hometown of Hickory, N.C.
The Hickory Record reported that John Mark Settlemyre, 67, was shot by Caldwell County deputies who responded to his residence after a domestic disturbance was reported.
Authorities told the paper that Settlemyre came out of the house with guns and exchanged fire with officers. He died at the scene.
In 1982, the first year of the Nationwide Series, Settlemyre ran six races, winning one at his home track, Hickory Motor Speedway, and posting two top-five and four top-10 finishes. He also was a five-time track champion at Hickory, one of the more competitive short tracks in America. He worked as a truck driver after retiring from racing.
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