I’m not fathoming the logic behind Petty Enterprises, which has done everything but sign the paperwork on a merger with (read: disappearance into) Gillett Evernham Even Though He Isn’t Around Anymore, giving Bobby Labonte the boot. A few months ago he signed a four year extension with PE even though it had no sponsor lined up for the #43 at the time. Now it has no sponsor and no driver. Assuming the #43 runs next year, regardless of whose name is on the ownership papers who are they going to put in that seat that’ll do any better on the track or the souvenir trailer? This makes zero sense.
The article about this in Scene Daily floats the possibility of Labonte taking the #41 Target ride next year. While this would be a wise choice for Earnhardt Ganassi — yes, that is a “this can’t be right even though it is” thing to put in print — I don’t know. Target’s target audience is the younger division of the in crowd. Labonte’s folksy appeal doesn’t mesh with this core demographic. Then again, given how Wal-Mart has made inroads into Target’s consumer base by upscaling things a bit, perhaps Target is looking to not so much lower its sights as provide a “you can shop here too, common folk” identity, in which case Labonte would be perfect. (No, I’m not trailer trashing anyone involved here; just telling it like it is in cold hard marketing terms.)
As the captain says, stay tuned…
