Bobby Labonte in the #71 for seven races: After Bobby Labonte was dismissed from his driving duties for seven of the remaining 12 races in the #96 Yates Racing [Hall of Fame Racing] Ford, the 2000 Sprint Cup champ has agreed to pilot the #71 TaxSlayer Chevy for TRG Motorsports in those seven events starting this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Yates Racing announced on Monday that rookie Erik Darnell would share the ride with Labonte for the remainder of the year. David Gilliland, who has competed in 22 races for TRG this season, will continue driving for the team in the remaining events.(FoxSports), this move also affects the Past Champions Provisional, especially at AMS where three past Sprint Cup champions are eligible for the past champions provisional. #71-Bobby Labonte [2000 Champ], #08-Terry Labonte [1996 & 1984 Champ] and #21-Bill Elliott [1988 Champ] all are with teams outside the Top-35 in Owners Points and must qualify 7th or better among the 11 go-or-go-homers to make the race. If one or more does not, the 8th spot [43rd starting spot] would go to the most recent past champion. If all three race into the lineup, the 43rd spot goes to the 8th fastest of the eleven.(9-3-2009)
This change has been made on the picks form, so Labonte has a salary of 5k for the race.
As of 2008, Labonte is the only driver to have won both the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship (2000) and the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship (1991). He also won the IROC title in 2001.
I didn't realize That he won his Sprint championship after Jeff Gordon had won 3 titles. 95-97-98. And he's 5 years younger than Mark Martin!!