NASCAR made a mockery of the Budweiser Shootout format back in August thanks to a conflict of sponsorship, and this week, an attempt to improve the race took another step back.
The August changes to the annual season-opening non-points race made eligibility requirements revolve around the previous season's manufacturer standings with the top six team from each car make earning a spot in the dash for cash. According to NASCAR, it was an attempt to give more exposure to the four car companies that compete in the Sprint Cup Series.
The result left Tony Stewart and other notable drivers ineligible for the Feb. 7 race and on Friday, NASCAR changed that.
Then, Richard Petty and the oh-so-struggling Petty Enterprises worked out a merger with GEM, a fellow Dodge team to create a still unnamed four-car team that includes the famed No. 43. Somehow, such a merger was a positive move for Sadler, as he was reinstated to the ride he had originally been taken out of.
Perhaps the newly-formed team didn't want to deal with a near-certain lawsuit Sadler was going to throw their way?
With Sadler back in, the Petty merger complete, Allmendinger signed up to run a handful of races based on sponsorship for the team, the NASCAR world appeared to slow.
Labonte, who left Petty Enterprises in December, moves to the team to drive the No. 96 car that, thanks to that new Yates/HoF alliance, will be a Ford. Surprisingly enough, Labonte's move also helped bring a new sponsor into the sport despite many teams struggling to even keep funding from the ones they currently hold.
Ask.com will serve as Labonte's primary sponsor on the No. 96 in addition to taking a role as the "official seach engine of NASCAR" -- something that sounds like it's going to benefit fans.
Warning: Objects in this post may be the only way to successfully live through the NASCAR off-season. For best results, read rearview mirror early and often.
Driver: Bobby Labonte Team: No. 43 Petty Enterprises Dodge '08 Final Standing: 21st (-3236) Best Race: Amp Energy 500 at Talladega (6th-place) Worst Race: Centurion Boats at the Glen (42nd-place)
Season in a box: 2008 was Labonte's third season in his bid to return Petty Enterprises to a higher level of competitiveness than it had seen for much of last decade or two. Needless to say, the experiment didn't go as planned.
It made sense at the time because Labonte's sponsor, General Mills, signed on at RCR to sponsor a 4th team at the operation and Labonte had a contract to drive 15 races for RCR in the Nationwide Series. Eventually, that rumor fell apart and Labonte re-signed with Petty for four more years.
Thursday, however, those plans completely changed again when Labonte and Petty agreed to amicably part ways immediately -- leaving the 2000 Sprint Cup Series champion without a ride for the moment in 2009 and continuing a nasty downward spiral of Petty Enterprises.
Petty plans to still run, at a minimum, a single-car team in 2009 but doesn't yet have a driver lined up.
Looking back, I can imagine that if the opportunity was available for Labonte to move to RCR like the rumor said, he's probably kicking himself slightly right now. However, we don't know for sure if such an offer was on the table and you surely can't fault Labonte for his loyalty.
The famed No. 43, the legendary Petty blue and everything that NASCAR's "King" Richard Petty helped to produce in his legendary 200-win and seven-championship career at Petty Enterprises seems to be slipping fast.
The team released 35 to 39 more employees this week on top of over over 30 that were let go immediately following the Sprint Cup season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November, bringing the total to nearly 70 people. ESPN says roughly 54 people remain at the shop.
Those 54 people are apparently waiting on any bit of good news that may come their way in terms of their employment -- and that news might just involve a merger with Gillette-Evernham Motorsports. Such a deal would see the famous No. 43 and possibly 2000 Sprint Cup champ Bobby Labonte move to the GEM stable to create a four-car team.
ESPN's David Newton said a possibility remains that the merger would happen and Labonte move to the GEM No. 41 Target ride while A.J. Allmendinger takes over the No. 43.
Petty's problems come directly from the fact that the team lacks full-season support for the two teams it wants to race in 2009 -- Labonte's No. 43 and a car for the young Chad McCumbee. General Mills left the team at the end of 2008 and will sponsor Richard Childress Racing's Clint Bowyer in 2009.
Even more surprising is that a face of Petty Enterprises no longer associates himself with the team.
With NASCAR's awards banquet on Friday, Dec. 5 (stop by for the live blog!), here's a look at 10 from '08 -- 10 of the NASCAR season's best moments.
With 43 cars on track, it's not too often that TV cameras catch a wreck live for the audience at home, but June's Sprint Cup race at Dover International Speedway was a little different.
FOX Sports was riding along with Elliott Sadler in his No. 19 Dodge on the in-car camera when the car suddenly broke loose and slapped the outside Turn 2 wall. What we saw next was also atypical of crashes at Dover.
Instead of following the general rule that Dover is a "self-cleaning" race track that forces crashed cars to the bottom of the race track because of the banked corners and straightaways, Sadler's car opted to slide precariously into the middle of the track and into what is best described as a blind spot for race cars traveling at speed.
There's been a lot of turmoil in the Petty Enterprises camp as of late thanks to a number of problems facing the once dominant (like, 20 years ago) but now struggling race team thanks primarily to the funding coffers starting to dry up.
The problem is simple -- PE wants to race two teams next season with Bobby Labonte and Chad McCumbee full time with current driver Kyle Petty on a part-time basis without having any sort of adequate funding. So naturally, when money gets tight, people turn sour, and problems arise.
As a result, Kyle Petty (Richard Petty's son who has been in the NASCAR game since 1979 with eight career wins) might be ride-less in 2009 in a move that would likely end what has been a slow trickle down of the number of races he's entered in the past two years.
"Right now, I got nothing," Petty said Saturday at Phoenix, where he'll start 35th in his last race of the year. "Straight up, I got nothing. So I'm still just looking."
Sunday's race at Phoenix International Raceway (FanHouse is live-bloggin' it again!) will be Petty's last race of the 2008 season because the up and coming McCumbee will try to make the season finale next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Petty has tested with and considered running in a road course racing series in 2009 -- a medium of racing he has some prior experience in.
FanHouse's Geoffrey Miller is at the track in Concord, N.C. for Saturday night's Bank of America 500 in full fan mode. He's hoping to avoid Kevin Harvick's motor coach driver from his location in the Ford Grandstand, Section I.
He'll try to change it by painting his No. 18 Toyota pink for Saturday night's race at Lowe's Motor Speedway -- and its for a great cause.
Busch, as well as Bobby Labonte's No. 43 and Elliott Sadler's No. 19 will sport pink paint schemes in the Bank of America 500 in support of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure grassroots breast cancer awareness group -- and I've got to say, the paint jobs look pretty good.
The cars will be sporting the new look thanks to the initiative from each team's respective sponsors making an effort to help promote awareness of breast cancer, and NASCAR having 40 percent of its fan base in women -- according to the press release -- is certainly a great place to do so.
Stanley Tools, M&M's, and General Mills are all also making contributions to the Komen foundation with Stanley pitching in $100,000, M&M's making a minimum donation of $650,000 and General Mills has already tossed $2 million into the cause in 2008.
UPDATE: ESPN.com is reporting the Labonte has been released from the hospital and is making his way home with no injuries.
Sunday's Sprint Cup road course race at Watkins Glen was going along quite smoothly until a big crash took out nine cars running in the middle of the field.
In that crash, Bobby Labonte likely took the hardest direct hit as he plowed into the nose of a spinning David Gilliland. The No. 43 of Labonte then spun towards the inside the wall where it came to a rest while the wreck continued in front of him.
When the carnage stopped, Labonte emerged quite gingerly from his Petty Enterprises Dodge with a big grimace on his face prior to any safety crews arriving on scene. By the time they arrived, Labonte was already long gone from his race car and walking towards the pit area.
On television, it appeared Labonte was favoring his pelvis as he was stopped by NASCAR officials who soon found him a ride to the Watkins Glen International Raceway infield care center. From there, Labonte was quickly transferred to a local hospital for a further look at his condition.
NASCAR made a mockery of the Budweiser Shootout format back in August thanks to a conflict of sponsorship, and this week, an attempt to improve the race took another step back.
Did you really think the NASCAR world could keep quiet during this offseason?
Move over 
Less than a year ago -- February to be exact -- 
The famed No. 43, the legendary Petty blue and everything that NASCAR's "King" 
With 43 cars on track, it's not too often that TV cameras catch a wreck live for the audience at home, but June's 
There's been a lot of turmoil in the 
It's no outlandish statement to say that 
UPDATE: ESPN.com is reporting the Labonte has been released from the hospital and is making his way home with no injuries.
