Terry Labonte to replace Michael Waltrip at Infineon, Watkins Glen
Quote selected text Published June 12th, 2007 in NASCAR News
Terry Labonte will drive the No. 55 Toyotas in place of Michael Waltrip for the NASCAR Nextel Cup road course races at Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen, the team announced Tuesday morning.
“It’s not an easy decision for me to remove myself from the car, but I know it is for the betterment of our whole program,” said Waltrip, who has failed to qualify for all but two of this season’s Cup races. “I know Terry’s experience and road race savvy will breathe a breath of fresh air into my young team.”
Labonte finished third in last year’s race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., where the Cup circuit will race on June 24. He also has six career top-10 finishes at Watkins Glen in New York.
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Way to go Texas Terry. Even though Terry will bring along the chance to use a champion’s prvisional. I doubt that he will need to use it, Terry has good results on the road courses. If the cars ARE capable he will prove it.
Sweeeeet. Terry’s a fair shake at road racing. Too bad I can’t go to
the Glen this year;; always nice to watch him race.
You hit the nail on the head.If the cars are capable.I doubt it.I do like Terry though.
Eh you can’t really say the cars are all-around capable or incapable
judging by how they do on a road course though. The teams that have
any kind of money build a special car for the road courses, and they
might just do those setups better. And don’t say they don’t, cuz I
know they do;; we sit in pit terrace at Watkins and you can tell the
poorest teams cuz they haven’t built a special car with the gas tank
on the opposite side, so their pit stops are screwy.
yes they build special cars but it’s still a Toyota, so don’t hold your breath that it will be very good.
Toyota struggled in the truck series but now pretty much dominate it.
If you are just saying this on the grounds that they pretty much
suck this season, which I agree with because you can’t really deny
it, that’s one thing. But don’t count them out just because they’re a
“foreign make” [[though they have factories here, thereby creating
jobs, and Ford and Chevy have factories over the borders]] or
whatever though. They just need time to develop their program, just
like they did in the truck series.
What a great idea.
So when they use all of Terrys champion provisionals maybe Mikey can hire Ned Jarret to drive for him.
Toyota’s suck, period! Why would Terry even want to poison himself by hopping into 1?
Yes terry is a great driver. I miss him at HMS, but damn! Toyota? WHY?
How did Waltrip ever get the DEI ride?
Christina, Mikey was a buddy of Big E’s that Big E really believed in. Mikey had a big dollar team at BAHARI RACING in the #30Pennzoil/ Country Time Pontiac for years. He couldn’t win there. Then he drove for the Wood Brothers. He won the all Star race at Charlotte and that was about it. Somehow he wound up in the #7 Ford of Jimmy Smith, the old G. Bodine team. Big E told Mikey that if he drove for him, he’d win races. He guaranteed it. Originally, Big E tried to form his Cup teams in the late 1990’s with Mikey and Ward Burton. Ward stayed loyal to Bill Davis while Mikey floundered. As fate would have it, in Mikey’s first race for DEI, Dale was killed. His first freaking points win in the Cup series and the man that believed in him, his boss, died! Spooky!
Yes that is a sad story =/ . I like Michael Waltrip alot. I wish him better luck.
I think Michael picked up the Petty curse when he stayed with the Petty family back when he was starting out… Its laughable because I think stuff like that is ridiculous but its almost impossible to deny. Poor Mikey. I hope he has good luck as an owner in the next few years. Atleast he has a hot wife to make up for all the misfortunes.
If Toyota stays on the course that it has through out its racing history in other series then all of us who root for Ford, Chevy or Dodge drivers should be just a little concerned. I know there isn’t a team owner out there who is ready to laugh off Toyota’s presence and say “they suck”. They know the reality of Toyota’s technical ability and the depth of their pockets. I don’t believe there is anyway Toyota will let themselves be embarassed at this level.