General Mills' move to RCR has Petty searching for '09

Richard Childress Racing will field a fourth Sprint Cup car next season backed by General Mills, a move that leaves Petty Enterprises searching for a new primary sponsor for its flagship No. 43 car.

RCR will unveil the No. 33 Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet for the 2009 season, with a driver to be announced at a later date. The newcomer will join stablemates Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer, all of whom won races and qualified for NASCAR's Chase last year. Despite that success, team owner Richard Childress viewed eventual expansion as vital if he hoped to keep pace with rival organizations with more cars.

Childress

"I think if you look at the two teams we're going to be racing for the championship against," Childress said, "Roush has four or five, seven, eight [cars], I don't know how many he really has. And Hendrick is the big number, they've had four teams and been a contender, and all their cars have been able to win races and run good. I think that's the bar that we have to shoot at. It just gives us more resources, it gives us more talent to work with. If we're going to beat these guys, we have to have the same amount of resources as they have."

Childress said he has a short list of four or five potential drivers for the car. But it didn't sound Tuesday as if Bobby Labonte, who drives the General Mills-backed car for Petty Enterprises this season -- and whose contract is up at the end of the year -- would be making the move to RCR along with his sponsor.

"I think he's going to end up staying at Petty," Childress said. "I don't know that, but I would think that we would end up staying there."

Labonte, who's driving a Nationwide car on a limited basis this year for Childress, was non-committal on his future in a statement released Tuesday.

"I'm very humbled by the level of interest in my future, but at this time I'm concentrating all my efforts in getting Petty Enterprises back to Victory Lane. I feel good about all the positive steps that Petty Enterprises has made and continues to make," he said.

"At this time, I have no intention to talk about my plans after 2008 because of the immediate tasks at hand. I respectively ask for everyone's patience in this matter and, again, am humbled by everyone's interest."

Childress said General Mills agreed to join his team last week. The decision comes just six races into the current season, partly because the company does much of its planning a half a year in advance, Childress said. The timing gives RCR a healthy 10 months to prepare for the No. 33 car's rollout in 2009. Childress said he'll likely promote some crewmen from his Nationwide operation, as he did when Bowyer's No. 07 team was formed.

"This gives us an opportunity to take our time, build new cars, do some testing hopefully before the year is over, and be really ready to go," he said.

Meanwhile, the Petty organization begins searching for a new backer for its iconic No. 43 car, which has had six drivers since Richard Petty completed his last race in 1992. Labonte, currently 21st in owner points, is in his third season in the car. The vehicle has had only two primary sponsors -- STP and General Mills -- since 1972. The team is also reportedly brokering a partnership with a New York-based financial group. (Continued)