Motorsports

Yates to Labbe: I won't accept your resignation

By BRANT JAMES
Published May 13, 2006

DARLINGTON, S.C. - Crew chief Richard "Slugger" Labbe offered his resignation to owner Robert Yates this week after he was suspended four races, fined $25,000 and Dale Jarrett's No. 88 Ford docked 25 points for an illegal sway bar at Richmond, Va. Yates, who was fined 25 owner points, refused to accept it, telling Labbe he felt he was within the "gray area" of NASCAR's rule book.

Labbe's anxiety was heightened, however, because Yates had been critical of Jimmie Johnson crew chief Chad Knaus when the No. 48 Chevrolet was found to have an illegal modification after winning the pole for the Daytona 500. Yates said he would fire any employee who cheated.

"I felt bad for Robert because he's been around the garage awhile and to label someone who works for him a cheater really bothers me and I know it bothers him, too," said Labbe, who will remain the crew chief until his appeal is heard by the National Stock Car Racing Commission on Wednesday. "I feel strongly in knowing I'm not a cheater. We pushed the rules like any other team in the garage and got singled out and, yeah, I did offer it. First thing I told Robert was, "I can make this easy for you. I can resign.' "

Yates, embroiled not only in the Labbe situation but facing the prospect that Jarrett may be named today as lead driver of Michael Waltrip's Nextel Cup team for 2007, did not speak to the media.

Johnson pressed Yates to follow through on his promise on his weekly satellite radio show, saying, "I just hope Mr. Yates lives up to what he said he would do in the media center when he was down there throwing stones out (his) glass house."

Labbe knows appeals are rarely successful. Knaus served a three-race suspension in addition to being ejected from Daytona.

"If we don't like it, that's their game," he said of NASCAR. "We breathe their air."

WEAR OUT: Darlington's 1.36-mile surface provides one of the most demanding stages for Nextel Cup teams because native sand within the asphalt blowing onto the track is incredibly abrasive to tires. Teams will take fresh tires every chance they get or risk plummeting through the field. Matt Kenseth said there are ways a driver can conserve rubber, but the engineers have more control.

"It would be a little bit better if you went slower in the beginning, but you still have to run, you have to figure out what will let you run your fastest block of time," he said. "It's easy to save tires when you have a good handling car and it's almost impossible when it's not handling right."

UP FRONT: Kasey Kahne won his third pole in four Nextel Cup races at Darlington on Friday with a best lap of 169.013 mph (29.096 seconds). Ryan Newman was second (168.192), with rookies Clint Bowyer (168.071), David Stremme (167.727) and Denny Hamlin (167.453) filling out the top five. Kahne, who won his first NASCAR truck race here in 2004, was third in the Cup race last year.

SPARK PLUGS: Terry Labonte, who won his first (1980) and last (2003) race at Darlington, will make his final start here tonight from the 43rd position on a past champion's provisional. Labonte, who has 22 wins at NASCAR's top level, is phasing into retirement with a partial schedule.

[Last modified May 13, 2006, 02:30:25]