Preview

NASCAR Cup

Labonte is back in the saddle with Circle Sport

Joe Falk hopes the former Cup champ can elevate his promising race teams

Lee Spencer

Edited: Jul 4, 2014, 12:17 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Bobby Labonte, Toyota

Bobby Labonte’s Sprint Cup sabbatical is over.

The 2000 NASCAR Cup champion will drive the No. 33 Thunder Coal Chevy for Joe Falk’s Circle Sport squad this weekend at Daytona International Speedway.

Labonte, who turned 50 in May, piloted a second car for Harry Scott in the Daytona 500. However, for the last five months Labonte’s only time behind the wheel of a race car has been testing for Richard Childress Racing.

Start: Brian Scott and Paul Menard lead

Photo by: Getty Images

“When Joe Falk called me and told me that they were rebuilding the pole-winning car from Talladega and that they had secured an ECR engine, I felt this was an opportunity to get back on the track in a competitive ride,” Labonte said in a release.

“They’re willing to put the investment into building the operation – and as a former NASCAR driver-owner I can appreciate that – and they’ve experienced a high level of success at the superspeedway events this season, so I’m looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of a race car this weekend at Daytona.”

In 43 starts on the 2.5-mile track, Labonte has posted six top fives - including two second-place runs in both Daytona Cup races in 1998 from which he started from the pole – and 10 top 10 finishes. In addition to his Cup championship, Labonte has earned 21 career wins on the tour.

Bobby Labonte, Phoenix Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Covy Moore

Labonte ran 12 laps in practice. He posted his fastest lap (197.737mph) on his second circuit.

Falk said Brian Scott winning the pole at Talladega helped put the No. 33 Chevy “on the map”. With Thunder Coal coming on board last week with David Stremme, Falk was able to retain that sponsorship for Labonte this weekend. Although the deal with Labonte evolved rather quickly, the Chesapeake, Va.-based car owner hopes to continue the relationship beyond Daytona.

“If we get a sponsor we could run more races,” Falk told Motorsports.com on Thursday. “We’re hoping to put together three or four more races for Bobby.

Landon Cassill

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

“We plan on running the 33 and 40 car each week no matter what. Landon Cassill will be in the 40 car every week from here on out. We almost have that car sold out. Bobby really likes Richmond and we’d also like him to run at Indianapolis. Hopefully, we can put something together.”

Although this is Falk’s eighth season on the Sprint Cup tour, without his “relationship with Richard Childress” the team would be unable to compete at this level. However, Falk understands that sponsorship is the key to providing long-term stability to his Circle Sport team.

“When we have sponsorship it improves the quality of competition on our team whether that’s an extra set of tires or a better pit crew,” Falk added. ““We don’t have the resources to run like the bigger teams but we’re gaining on it.”

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Wild card Daytona anyone’s race to win

Next article Trying times for Greg Biffle

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

MotoGP Malaysian GP: Pedro Acosta beats Marc Marquez in tense sprint

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Malaysian GP

41 min

MotoGP Malaysian GP: Pedro Acosta beats Marc Marquez in tense sprint

Ducati copies swingarm fins and Aprilia responds with upgraded version

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Malaysian GP

2 h

Ducati copies swingarm fins and Aprilia responds with upgraded version

Jorge Martin concedes 2026 MotoGP title is “already lost” after Malaysian GP withdrawal

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Malaysian GP

3 h

Jorge Martin concedes 2026 MotoGP title is “already lost” after Malaysian GP withdrawal

Layne Riggs had no problem with teammate going for the win despite title fight

NASCAR Truck

NSTR NASCAR Truck

Martinsville

4 h

Layne Riggs had no problem with teammate going for the win despite title fight

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts