2000 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) champion Bobby Labonte will fill the seat vacated by his older brother, Terry Labonte at GoFAS Racing in 2015, CATCHFENCE.com has learned.
Labonte, 50, will drive the No. 32 Ford Fusion beginning with the 57th annual Daytona 500 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on February 22. Furthermore, the 21-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race winner will also compete in the other three remaining superspeedway events at Daytona (July) and Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway respectively.
An official announcement is expected as early as Wednesday.
In 22 Daytona 500 attempts, he earned the pole in 1998, the same year of his best finish of second behind race winner Dale Earnhardt Sr.
Texas-based C&J Energy Services will continues its role in backing the No. 32 entry. GoFAS Racing is jointly owned by former NASCAR veteran crew chief Frank Stoddard and Maine-entrepreneur and former XFINITY team owner Archie St. Hilaire.
“I’m excited for the opportunity to go racing next season with GoFAS Racing and C&J,” Labonte said. “The people at C&J are good friends of our family, and like me, have a passion for the sport. I want to thank them, along with Frank and Archie for allowing me the opportunity to take over where my brother left off.”
The Corpus Christi, Texas native competed in just three Sprint Cup Series events this past season driving for team owners Harry Scott (Daytona), Joe Falk (Daytona-July) and Tommy Baldwin Jr. (Indianapolis) He finished 15th in the Daytona 500, as a teammate to Cup newcomer Justin Allgaier, while qualifying a surprising fourth in the often underfunded No. 33 Chevrolet five months later for the Coke Zero 400.
The elder Labonte, 57, competed in 20 of his last 21 races driving for GoFAS Racing, dating back to the Daytona 500 in 2011. In those races, he earned a best finish of 11th in the rain-shorted Coke Zero 400 in July 2014, while this past October, the 1996 Cup champion earned the team their best start of ninth under the GoFAS Racing banner.
He officially retired following that same race, the GEICO 500 on October 19 after finishing 33rd.
Like his brother, Labonte will have the past-champions provisional as a last resort to earn a starting berth into the 43-car field should the team not qualify inside the top-36 on speed or earn a points provisional. Terry Labonte started shotgun on the field four times during his tenure with the team, including twice at Daytona.
GoFAS Racing officials have not ruled out additional races for Labonte, as they continue to carve out their 2015 Sprint Cup driver lineup. Including Terry Labonte, the Mooresville, North Carolina-based team utilized nine drivers to comprise the 36 races in 2014 including: Joey Gase, Kyle Fowler, Timmy Hill, Blake Koch, Travis Kvapil, Eddie MacDonald, Boris Said and J.J. Yeley.
Clinton Cram will return as crew chief, a role he’s assumed since Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway this past October.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
