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Report: Labonte leaving Petty(Roanoke Times, The (Roanoke, VA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Feb. 24--FONTANA, Calif. -- Petty Enterprises has offered Bobby Labonte a contract that it hopes keeps the 43-year-old driver with the team the rest of his career, although an internet report states he could be driving elsewhere next year. A report by Yahoo! Sports states that Labonte "likely" will drive a fourth car for Richard Childress next season with General Mills moving over as sponsor. "I don't really believe a whole lot of stuff that you read and half of what you say sometimes, so I don't put nothing into it," Labonte said Saturday afternoon of the Yahoo! Sports report. Labonte, the 2000 series champion, is in the final year of his three-year contract with Petty Enterprises. Robbie Loomis, vice president for operations at Petty Enterprises, said the team is awaiting word from Labonte on the contract offer. "It's up to him what he wants to do with it,. Hopefully, he'll sign it," Loomis said. "We'd really like Bobby Labonte to finish his career out with Petty Enterprises and the contract that we presented him is kind of laid out that way. We think his values and what he stands for is a good fit with us." Loomis said he doesn't have a timetable on when the team would like a response from Labonte, but admits that "the earlier the better, so that everybody can get their eyes back on the racing." Labonte said whatever he does next will be behind closed doors. "My next step is not to talk about it," Labonte said. Loomis also said he does not see General Mills joining Richard Childress Racing as long as that team has Jack Daniel's sponsoring one of its cars. "We have a lot of things in our contract how specifically they won't touch a sponsor that is alcohol, so for the General Mills piece to be going over there ... I really find surprising," Loomis said. Labonte finished 18th in the points last year, the first time since 1999 Petty Enterprises placed a driver in the top 20 in points. In the offseason, the team moved to a new facility in Mooresville, N.C., and added Jeff Meendering, the car chief for Jeff Gordon's team, as Labonte's crew chief. Date switching? Talk of Atlanta Motor Speedway and Auto Club Speedway switching fall race dates has raised some eyebrows from both tracks. Auto Club Speedway, formerly California Speedway, has been plagued by temperatures topping 100 degrees for its Labor Day weekend event. Moving to Atlanta's spot in late October would mean cooler weather. If Atlanta moved to Labor Day weekend, it would help the track because that's not as big a college football weekend as its fall date. "We've made no secret we don't love our race dates," said Gillian Zucker, track president at Auto Club Speedway. "That race fans don't love our race dates. If we could find a date that would be cooler for the Labor Day event, and we could find a date that wouldn't coincide with Academy Awards and make us compete for media and wouldn't put us in rain window, I think we'd be pleased for February." "If there is a way that the schedule can be realigned so that Atlanta could get a better date and we could have a better date ... I think that would be fantastic." Of course, those aren't the only tracks that would like a switch. Texas Motor Speedway officials have wanted to change its fall date because it lands on the opening day of deer hunting. And Bruton Smith has been clamoring for a second date at Las Vegas. Speculation has arisen since Smith's company, Speedway Motorsports Inc., purchased New Hampshire International Speedway last year that he might move a race to Las Vegas. Pit stops Jeff Gordon was the fastest in a rain-shortened practice Saturday with a lap of 179.569 mph. He was followed by Carl Edwards (179.180), Greg Biffle (178.909), Mark Martin (178.891) and Matt Kenseth (178.820). ... Martin is scheduled to make his 700th career Cup start today. He made his debut in 1981 at North Wilkesboro. ... Jimmy Johnson, a former Hendrick Motorsports general manager, died Friday after suffering a stroke. He was 61. He helped grow the company from less than 40 employees to nearly 400 in his 16-year as general manager. To see more of The Roanoke Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.roanoke.com/. Copyright (c) 2008, The Roanoke Times, Va. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |