Bobby Labonte. As if you didn't know that.

The news that Bobby Labonte has severed ties with the #71 team and is now free-lancing, this weekend at New Hampshire running Robby Gordon’s #7 car while Gordon is occupied elsewhere and then taking a couple of turns in the #09, invokes a sense of relief rather than ruminations on a career reaching an end.

Outside of maybe Kurt Busch, Labonte is the least recognized champion of the modern era. Some of this may be due to how his title run in 2000 thwarted what turned out to be Dale Earnhardt’s final run at an eighth Winston Cup, although given how he won by 265 points in those pre-Chase days it’s not like he squeaked in. The fact that Labonte leans toward being a laconic, laid-back person probably contributes to his low-key standing. It’s not that Labonte lacks for fans; one would be hard-pressed to find anyone in the stands or garage who doesn’t like him. He’s just cool like that.

The hope is that Labonte can give some peer pointers to Gordon, who hasn’t been setting the world on fire this year, although his second place finish at Infineon this past Sunday was a pleasant change of pace. Whether he’ll be able to wrestle anything out of the car at New Hampshire remains to be seen.

The other hope is Labonte isn’t turning into a scuffling journeyman, wandering from team to team. A good showing this weekend would go a long way toward dispelling that notion. If he’s a rolling speed bump, though, one has to wonder.

Although Ron Hornaday Jr.’s penchant during the proceedings for driving dumb was lamentable in the extreme, the finish was something to behold.  Sliced Bread went from marvelous to moldy in the eyes of all (including, thankfully, the NASCAR officials in attendance) when his impersonation of Carl Edwards’ kamikaze reverse dive bomb maneuver last year at Kansas took not himself out but Peyton Sellers, who certainly could have used the win far more than Logano.  Meanwhile, Matt Kobyluck managed to miss the mayhem and came in second behind God’s Gift To Racing™.  Within a matter of seconds second turned into first as the driver pretty much guaranteed to have the loneliest souvenir trailers at every race this year no matter how much NASCAR promotes him as racing’s equivalent of Barack Obama (reference: The One) was politely informed he would be officially scored as finishing fortieth only because finishing forty-first in a forty car field was a tad problematic math-wise.

Nothing against Logano, but the hype on his behalf is inevitably going to result in a backlash.  Tony Stewart fans will never accept anyone else behind the whell of the #20 Home Depot car, and the “he’ll win multiple Sprint Cups before he’ll be asked to be one of the Gillette Young Guns because he won’t have to shave for at least another five years” propaganda has worn mighty thin.  We rat bastards prefer to choose our own rave faves, thanks.

To me, it looks like a car with normally no sponsor that slapped one on at the last second.  It’s passable (which will probably be its standard modus operandi on the track, but I digress), however they could have put together something giving the impression they plan on being here for more than a single race.  Ah well.

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…