Labonte exit to hand Yeley lifeline?

Bobby Labonte's departure from the #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Interstate Batteries team may have handed JJ Yeley a Nextel Cup lifeline after the former single seater aspirant lost out to Denny Hamlin for the #11 FedEx sponsored ride.

The ending of Labonte's eleven-year, championship winning relationship with Gibbs leaves Tony Stewart as the only established name on Gibbs' Nextel Cup roster for the 2006 season and while Yeley's graduation to the #18 for 2006 is not yet certain, as Gibbs' other Busch Series regular driver (alongside Hamlin), he is the logical choice.

Labonte, who joined JGR at the start of the 1995 season, has won 21 Nextel Cup races to date for the #18 team and rolled to the 2000 Cup Series title. However he hasn't won a race since Homestead in 2003 and has fallen to 25th in the current standings.

"I regret to say that this is the final year that I will be at Joe Gibbs Racing," Labonte said. "One of the things that made this decision so difficult was thinking of all the fans that have supported me at JGR throughout the past 11 years. This relationship has lasted a long time, and I hate that it has to end. Joe Gibbs and his family gave me the opportunity of a lifetime, and I want to thank them, and all the employees at JGR, for 11 years of hard work. I will always cherish the times at JGR, and the only thing that I regret is that we didn't win more races and or championships.

"I wish everyone at JGR continued success in the future and I want to thank J.D. (Gibbs, president of JGR) for giving me the chance to be released from my contract early and letting me pursue other opportunities."

"My dad and I have both enjoyed a great relationship with Bobby over the past 11 years," J.D. Gibbs said. "Without his leadership and class, Joe Gibbs Racing would not be what it is today. Bobby, Donna and the whole Labonte family will always be a very special part of JGR. We all wish him the best in the future."

Labonte won the 2000 Winston Cup Championship and scored all 21 of his Cup victories driving for JGR in the famous green Interstate Batteries car. Labonte drove the Interstate Batteries car to victory lane in some of the most prestigious races on the schedule, including the Brickyard 400 and Southern 500 in 2000 and the Coca-Cola 600 in 1995.