When Bobby Labonte starts the 2010 Brickyard 400, he will be making his 600th consecutive start. Well, for right now, that’s if Labonte starts the 2010 Brickyard 400. Labonte likely will have a ride for that event ‘Â considering he is a past Cup champion (he won the title in 2000) and has access to past champion provisionals. So even if a team isn’t in the top 35, he’d be in the race. But Labonte was prepared last Monday to see that streak end this weekend. He was prepared to leave TRG Motorsports and the #71 car because he couldn’t stomach the start-and-park plan for the organization’s unsponsored races. He had done three of them and that was enough. He didn’t have a ride until Tuesday afternoon when he got a call from Robby Gordon, who needed someone to drive his car while he went to Argentina on a business trip for his off-road racing team. The streak ‘Â which includes all but two of his career Cup races ‘Â is not that huge a deal to Labonte, who is driving for Gordon this weekend at New Hampshire and then #09 Phoenix Racing the next two weekends at Daytona and Chicago. Gordon has talked about entering a second car [#07 Toyota] for Labonte at Indianapolis but nothing is certain yet. “It’s there, but it’s not like one of those things I’ve got to sit there and say, ‘Hey, I’m only doing it because of that,'” Labonte said about the streak. “I’m doing this because of the passion I have for it and what I want to do.” It is possible that Labonte will drive for #71 TRG Motorsports in a few races later this year if the races are fully funded. Beyond that, he is not sure what will happen for him after Chicago and into 2011. “It’s pretty early in the year to be looking,” Labonte said. “It’s good to be looking that far ahead but we’re not quite there yet [where teams are deciding for 2011].”(SceneDaily)(6-27-2010)
