PitNow is reporting that if Bobby Labonte wins the Winston Cup Championship, team owner Joe Gibbs may move his crew chief, Jimmy Makar to a Team Manager role, move Tony’s Stewart’s crew chief, Greg Zipadelli over to Labonte’s #18 Interstate Batteries team and hire a new crew chief for Stewart’s #20 Home Depot team, one name mentioned in the article is the #55 APR crew chief Jimmy Elledge(PitNow). Also still no word on if Home Depot will re-sign with Gibbs for the #20 Tony Stewart team, one rumor has Home Depot leaving and MBNA stepping up from a major associate sponsor to a primary sponsor on the #20 Pontiac(9-15-2000) UPDATE: Joe Gibbs have been trying to renegotiate the #20 Team’s contract with Home Depot, which has another year to run. Home Depot executives have declined to comment on the talks. Home Depot’s sponsorship is nowhere near the $12 million to $15 million level that UPS and Pfizer are going to be paying Robert Yates and Jack Roush next season, and Gibbs wants Home Depot to up its ante(PitNow) NOTE: I had heard and thought the deal was good thru 2000, not 2001(9-22-2000) UPDATE 2: have confirmed that Home Depot’s contract with Joe Gibbs Racing goes thru 2001 and they are in the final stages of renewing their contract and have NO plans to leave the #20 team. An announcement may come in the next two to four weeks(9-26-2000)
