Texas Terry runs five races for Joe Gibbs Racing (2005)
Join me throughout this year as I take a look at when some of the sport’s biggest stars drove some unusual cars! (Presented in no particular order).
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| Courtesy Motorsport/Sutton Images |
Why? The late Jason Leffler got a second chance at Cup with the debuting 11 car in 2005, but disappointing results led to the team looking outside for a substitute driver. That substitute wound up being 18 car driver Bobby Labonte’s brother Terry, who had just transitioned into a part-time schedule.
How successful were they? Hmm…somewhat? Terry brackets his stint with a 12th place at Sonoma and a 9th at Richmond (the team’s first top-ten of the year). However, the three races in-between were all sub-25th place finishes.
What was the aftermath? The Ice Man would continue to race part-time, while the 11 would see JJ Yeley briefly occupy the car before Denny Hamlin took over near the end of the season. And except for a few races missed due to injury, he hasn’t left it since.
Ranking on the Strange-O-Meter? 3 FedEx boxes out of 10—in retrospect this was the start of Terry Labonte’s “Have past-champion’s provisional, will travel” run.
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