What he said, what he meant
What J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing, said today when the team announced that Terry Labonte and not Jason Leffler will drive the No. 11 car at Sonoma in two weeks:
"Jason understands that our support of him continues. With an experienced veteran in Terry, the No. 11 will benefit from his 25 years of Nextel Cup racing and his strong performances at road course venues."
What J.D. Gibbs meant:
"We have so little confidence in Jason that we'd rather take our chances on a semi-retired driver who has finished 26th or better only once of the last seven times he's raced there."
Comments (7)
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FedEx is paying quite a pretty penny to be in Nextel Cup, so because Leffler hasn't ran at Sonoma before, I would expect them to find someone that can get them in the field. I think they'll stick with Leffler through the end of the year, but unless they show some improvement, he will be gone.
Posted on June 14, 2005 9:05 PM
I understand T. Lab is semi-retired; but he is still very accomplished on road courses. If he gets a top-5 out of it it keeps FedEx happy, plus it may get the 11 car close to the top 35 (I think Leffler is 100+ out at the moment).
Posted on June 15, 2005 9:24 AM
Mark: Labonte had a pretty good road-course run ... nearly a decade ago. He had top 5s at both road courses in 95-96-97 (one of those years might have been a top 5/top 10 -- I didn't keep my notes from yesterday, but that's what I recall.)
Last year, he was 40th at Sonoma and 39th at the Glen. From 97-03, he wasn't much better -- one top 10 in that span, I think, and a bunch of finishes in the 30s and 40s.
But Labonte has one huge advantage over Leffler: He's guaranteed to make the field because he's a past champion. And Terry's brother proved in the 600 that there's nothing wrong with the car.
The No. 11 is 91 out of 35th in owner points, btw.
Posted on June 15, 2005 9:37 AM
John, when B Labonte came in second a few races ago was that in his car with FedEx decals or was it Lefflers' car?
Should I bring back Jr's car for him from down here at Univeral Studios to see if the show car runs any better for him?
Posted on June 15, 2005 3:49 PM
Mark: I'm pretty sure the No. 18 at Charlotte was Labonte's car wrapped in Leffler's Fed Ex logo.
As for Junior's show car, heck, it couldn't hurt. But make sure to check it -- I'm pretty sure it won't fit in the overhead compartment.
Posted on June 15, 2005 4:22 PM
Sponsors and car owners have been known to pull the driver that they have a contract with out of the car for weekends like this because of lack experience. Petty Ent. has done it in several instances with Christian Fittapaldi and Buckshot Jones. With the FedEx car not really up to par even if Terry finishes 20th in this race he would still have done a great improvement to that team. I think it is a great decision by Gibbs racing and wish them the best of luck in California.
Posted on June 15, 2005 8:03 PM
Austin, thank you for posting. I almost ran over your father with a shopping cart at a Food Lion in High Point about 15 years ago. I guess they need spotters for going around the turns there too. It was right after he had his surgery for a crash at Talledega if I remember right.
John, this is pretty impressive. Why don't you ask Bruce and Jennifer if similar people related to their Blog would post to the Chalkboard?
Posted on June 16, 2005 9:32 AM