Filed under: Bobby Labonte, Michael Waltrip, Toyota, Sprint Cup, NASCAR

On the heels of Tuesday's announcement that Marcos Ambrose is leaving JTG Daugherty Racing and the No. 47 Toyota at the end of the season, the team announced Wednesday that 2000 Sprint Cup champion Bobby Labonte will take the wheel of the car in 2011.

"JTG Daugherty Racing is a solid race team that has come close to winning races with Marcos Ambrose and I'm looking forward to developing our new partnership in 2011," Labonte was quoted as saying in a statement released by the team. "The team is thriving and their technical alliance with MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) in intact. It's great to have next year already set in stone so when this season ends, we can begin focusing on next year right away."

"We are really happy Bobby has decided to join our teams because I have known him for a long time and I have always admired him as a professional driver and as an individual," said team co-owner Brad Daughterty, the former basketball star who has become a team co-owner and ESPN race broadcaster.

It won't be terribly surprising if something more happens in this situation before the end of the year. Teams often decide to go ahead and make a driver switch early so the driver and team have a few races to become acclimated before the following season gets underway.

On top of that, Labonte has had to ham-and-egg it this year to keep racing and keep alive his consecutive start streak, which reached 600 straight races (starting in 1993) at Indianapolis last Sunday. Labonte has driven for three different owners this season, has had to go through the start-and-park routine several times and may have to continue to find random raid for the rest of the season. The huge advantage he has is that he is a former champion, and there is a provisional starting spot in every race for ex-champions.

This is JTG-Daughterty's second year in the Sprint Cup series, and with Ambrose having posted only two top-10s thus far, it has been a letdown from a surprisingly strong debut season for the team, when Ambrose posted four top fives and finished a respectable 18th in points.

 

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