The Buzz: March 31, 2001

April 25, 2001
11:12 AM EDT (1512 GMT)

Personnel may be the problem plaguing likeable team owner Larry McClure, who once professed that his Morgan-McClure Motorsports' team's location in Abingdon, Va., far from the sport's "hub" in Charlotte, N.C., meant crewmen were less apt to go to lunch and not come back for the afternoon shift.

Word is McClure could "clean house and not be any worse off than he is now." The fact that employees feel McClure is "powerless because he couldn't get anyone to come to Virginia to replace them" doesn't help the outfit that is on its third driver since the end of last season, only (seven) races ago, with only two top-10 finishes since 1999. .

Not just talk

Rumors of a "driver boycott" at Talladega Superspeedway, site of the Talladega 500 on April 22 are apparently not idle talk. Defending NASCAR Winston Cup champion Bobby Labonte confirmed Friday he had been approached by drivers voicing that opinion.

"I'm not heading that deal, I can tell you that right now," Labonte said when asked about the 'boycott.' "All I know is that people have come to me and said 'My sponsor said if I don't want to go I don't have to go.'

"When Talladega rolls around, will everybody go? Chances are everybody will go -- but I think we'd all love to see a change in the way the rules are for Talladega and Daytona. What will the changes be? Nobody has a good answer for that."

The aerodynamic and engine package instituted for last fall's Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway and maintained for the season opening Daytona 500 have created mob-style racing. The Daytona 500 was marred by two accidents; one that involved about 20 cars and another that claimed the life of seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt. Neither could definitively be pinned on the rules package, but drivers don't necessarily feel that way.

"When the fifth-place car (Tony Stewart) lands on the 25th-place car's hood (Labonte's, at Daytona 500)," Labonte said, "You know -- 'Hello' -- there might be a problem here."

Produce or perish

The No. 15 Chevrolet of Dale Earnhardt, Inc., which has not quite matched its season opening Daytona 500 winning performance in the five races since, has made a change. Jackman Britt Goodrich was let go Friday morning after struggling the past few weeks.