Yates Racing, announced that former NASCAR Camping World Series Rookie-ofthe-Year and current NASCAR Nationwide Series driver, Erik Darnell will be behind the wheel of the #96 entry in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series for seven races this season. Darnell will make his Sprint Cup Series debut Labor Day weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the #96 Academy Sports & Outdoors Ford Fusion. He also is slated to pilot the #96 at Loudon, Kansas, Talladega, Texas, Phoenix and Homestead. Darnell will carry the familiar colors of Northern Tool + Equipment for the Loudon and Kansas races. Academy Sports & Outdoors will be Darnells primary sponsor at Atlanta, Talladega and Texas. Bobby Labonte will continue to race the#96 Ford under the Hall of Fame Racing banner with Ask.com and DLP as his primary sponsors at Richmond, Dover, Fontana, Charlotte and Martinsville. This is a move that will be beneficial to Yates Racing surviving this difficult economic time, said Bobby Labonte. Of course, Im disappointed that the sponsorship environment is so challenging right now, but I intend to make the most out of the remaining races that Im behind the wheel for Ask.com, DLP and Hall of Fame Racing.(Yates Racing PR)(8-31-2009)
UPDATE: Hall of Fame Racing would like to keep Bobby Labonte as its NASCAR Sprint Cup driver and likely will not be affiliated with Yates Racing next year, team co-owner Tom Garfinkel said Monday. The organization signed Ask.com as a sponsor and Bobby Labonte as a driver in January for the 2009 season and then landed a deal with Yates Racing for Yates to field the cars. Seven of the final 12 races were unsponsored, and Yates Racing has opted to put Erik Darnell in the #96 Sprint Cup car instead of Labonte. Garfinkel, in a phone interview, said his organization is still in discussions with Ask.com for next season but doesnt anticipate the Yates Racing relationship to continue. The organization is looking for other teams to partner with and is in discussions with other sponsors as well, Garfinkel said.(SceneDaily)(8-31-2009)
