A New Cup Team Is Formed

[Cheeze]

From Jayski:

Stoddard starts new Cup team: Frank Stoddard, a 14-time Cup winner as a crew chief has formed his own NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team and plans to run the full 36-race schedule with the #32 Ford. No driver has been named and the team is currently seeking sponsorship support. "I'm really eager to get this off the ground," said Stoddard. "It's a great time to enter the sport. We'll just have to wait and see where we can go from here. My hope is to take this team to a competitive level and put together some respectable runs with the limited resources we have in place. One never knows, with our determination and just a little bit of funding we could definitely improve our chances on the track." Stoddard plans to open the season with the Daytona 500.(National Speed Sport News) Stoodard was the crew cheif of the #26 Latitude 43 team that attempted all 36 races in 2011 with various drivers, but has not made its plans for 2011 known and didn't test at Daytona.(2-3-2011)

I wish them the best for 2011 and beyond.

 

[B.McKeever]

Stoddard co-owned No Fear Racing with Boris Said & Mark Simo (Owner of No Fear/SoBe).

He probably purchased assets of Latitude 43 Motorsports considering they fell off the face of the earth.

I wish them luck and maybe they can snag Scott Speed to drive for them!

 

[4WideRacing]

Another crew chief owning a team, now to get Chad Knaus also. Hopefully this team will not S&P.

 

[labontefanboy]

As long as this team doesn't S&P, I'm happy to hope the best for them. Max Papis perhaps as the driver?

 

[4WideRacing]

As long as this team doesn't S&P, I'm happy to hope the best for them. Max Papis perhaps as the driver?

He can't do full-time trucks and Cup very well.

 

[labontefanboy]

He can't do full-time trucks and Cup very well.

Ah yes I forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me. Then I'd say Scott Speed is their best bet.

 

[4WideRacing]

Ah yes I forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me. Then I'd say Scott Speed is their best bet.

Sam Hornish Jr. may also be a good person if the Nationwide races in Dodges don't get in the way. Also splitting the ride with different drivers may be good if they could get someone like Michael McDowell to do some.

 

[MattSRD28]

Like TBR, L43, and so many others before it, this team will live & die on the sword of sponsorship.

 

[Cheeze]

Hate to burst your bubble guys, but I'm 99% they'll be Start and Parking.

 

[Lap_Down]

Hate to burst your bubble guys, but I'm 99% they'll be Start and Parking.

I don't have a problem with this... if they are good enough to make the show in qualifying... that's good enough for me for them to do whatever they want after that. If they ran some laps somebody would probably just punt them out of the way anyway and then they would just lose a car for no good reason.

If the big guys are making the big bucks in Nascar I don't mind if the little guys try to make some little bucks in Nascar too... just please stay out of the way of the 24. LOL.

 

[B.McKeever]

US Chrome is sponsoring them. Stoddard was co-owner of No Fear Racing w/ Boris Said. They ran the entire race and SoBe was the sponsor, Mark Simo was also part-owner. So they didn't really have any "real" sponsorship.

I think they'll start the season finishing races but will eventually relegate to S&P if financing is not around.

 

[4WideRacing]

Terry Labonte to run at Daytona: Two-time Sprint Cup champion Terry Labonte will race in the Daytona 500 for FAS Lane Racing, a start-up Cup team owned by former crew chief Frank Stoddard. Mike Skinner is expected to drive the remainder of the season in the #32 Ford. U.S. Chrome will be the primary sponsor with the Air National Guard an associate sponsor at Daytona. "We plan to run all the races this year," says Stoddard. "I'm hoping that more funding will come down the pipe and we can ramp up to be competitive."(USA Today), no word if Labonte will run the #32 in the Bud Shootout, for which is is eligible. No word on the #10 Stavola Labonte Racing Chevy team that ran a few races in 2010 and was supposed to run in 2011.(2-7-2011)

Nice to see Mike Skinner get a "ride". Hopefully Labonte will be in the shootout. I hope that Stavola Labonte Racing is still around.