| | NOT EVEN | Childress: Labonte driving Nationwide car isn't a tryout | |
| | By Bob Pockrass / SceneDaily.com FORT WORTH, TX -- Richard Childress Racing has Bobby Labonte driving in the Nationwide Series with Shane Wilson as a crew chief. Could that be a tryout to see if they can work together on the recently announced RCR fourth Sprint Cup team next year?
Both Childress and Wilson say that’s reading more into the situation than exists, even though Labonte is driving for Petty Enterprises in Sprint Cup and his contract ends following the 2008 season.
“I think Bobby is pretty much committed to the Pettys,” Childress said Friday at Texas Motor Speedway. “Right now, we’re looking at a lot of different drivers. That isn’t the reason Bobby is over there.
“Bobby drove for Kevin [Harvick] some last year and won a race with him and we felt he would do a really good job in our [Nationwide] cars. It just happened to be with Shane’s [No. 21] car.”
Wilson, who directed RCR’s fourth Cup team when it tested at Daytona International Speedway, said he is enjoying working with Labonte, the 2000 Cup champion.
“It may look like that, but the reality is the 21 had a good program there and Kevin was going to drive his own car this year,” said Wilson, who has Cup experience with Penske Racing. “Richard went out and probably got the best guy he could get for that.
“I don’t know that it’s a tryout. Obviously everyone thinks that it is. But really we wanted the best guy we could get for the 21 car. By Kevin driving his own car, Bobby didn’t have a [Nationwide] car to drive, so I don’t know if we need to look that much into it.”
As far as candidates for the driver for the fourth Cup car, Childress said he has a list, but not a timetable.
Among the drivers whose contracts end following this season are Carl Edwards, David Ragan, Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman, Reed Sorenson and Martin Truex Jr.
“A lot of these drivers, here it is only April, and it’s hard for drivers to speak up and say, ‘I’m leaving next year’ right now,” Childress said. “Most of them have periods that they can’t talk until later in the year. So we’re not going to be in a panic right now over drivers.
“There are drivers that we have spoke to us that have interest, and we definitely have interest in them. Most of it is going to be a timing thing. We’re going to get the team ready and get everything in line and get it set up and go from there.”
None of those six would have a past champions provisional to fall back on if they go to a new team next year.
“Our biggest concern on that would be the weather,” Childress said. “We feel that our cars, with the right driver, should be able to qualify. If the weather don’t get you, we feel we’ll have a good shot at qualifying and making the races.”
General Mills, the sponsor of the team, will have input on the driver, Childress said. He added that he didn’t anticipate moving General Mills to the No. 31 car to replace AT&T with driver Jeff Burton. As part of an agreement with Sprint, AT&T must end its primary sponsorship at the end of this year.
Scott Wimmer, who drives in the Nationwide Series for RCR, likely will drive the No. 33 Sprint Cup car in a race between now and Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May. If the team attempts a race by Charlotte, then it can test the following week at Pocono.
“We’re going to run it three or four times [this year] with Scott Wimmer in it,” Childress said.
So is Wimmer a candidate, too?
“Wimmer is a really good Cup driver, and right now we’ve got him driving in some Cup [for us],” Childress said.
| | Posted April 05, 2008 , 4:31 pm EST
Last Updated April 05, 2008 , 4:32 pm EST | | | | | | |
