Crew chiefs in the news as sport honors its drivers

A couple of veteran crew chiefs, David Hyder and "Slugger" Labbe, were in the news on the eve of the inaugural Las Vegas edition of the Cup Series awards ceremony: One of them for staying put and the other for moving on -- or being moved, depending on the source.

Labbe, an integral part of owner Kevin Buckler's fledgling TRG Motorsports operation this season as its crew chief, on Wednesday decided to accept a position with another organization he said would be announced next week.

Labbe

Labbe said he met with Buckler on Thursday to let him know his decision. On Friday, Labbe said he was one of seven employees of a competition staff of 11 that had left TRG this week; but later that day Buckler's tale was different.

"I was waiting for Kevin to get back in town and when we did, I pulled him aside and told him I had accepted a position with another race team," Labbe said. "As a side note, I told him I'd been a crew chief in this sport for a while and I told him some things I thought he could do to be a better owner. But I appreciate everything he and [wife] Debra have done; it was just time to move on to a better position in racing.

"I'm excited to get back into the A-main, so to speak, with a company that's fully-funded and ready to race. But working with TRG probably helped me to get this job with a better organization, so I can't say anything negative about it."

Being a NASCAR owner continues to be an eye-opener for Buckler, who's had more than a decade of success in sports car prior to getting into NASCAR in the Truck Series in 2007, where he won a race in 2008. He said a "difference in management styles" led to his decision on Labbe.

"We chose to terminate the services of Slugger Labbe [on Thursday] after it was in the works for several weeks," Buckler said. "On Thursday I laid off three people, end of subject. I walked back in [to the shop] and said 'is everybody cool?' and they were. Everyone's here [Friday], they're here right now.

"We had a meeting [Thursday] that went well and the guy I'm probably going to hire as my crew chief is coming in shortly. TRG appreciates Slugger's dedication in its first year as a Cup organization where he helped guide the team to 35 consecutive starts and TRG's first top-10 finish in the Cup Series.

"TRG will, as planned, compete full time in 2010 with Bobby Labonte behind the wheel of the No. 71."

Labbe said he was due to start his new position on Monday.

On the flip side of the coin, crew chief Hyder and Wood Brothers Racing were so enamored of the progress of their part-time, but well-funded effort in 2009 they signed a contract extension through 2010 before summer broke. But that didn't stop Hyder's name from surfacing recently in the rumor mill.

Hyder dismissed any such thoughts even as team co-owner Eddie Wood confirmed their No. 21 Ford would compete in "at least the 15-race schedule we ran this year and more [races] if sponsorship becomes available. Bill Elliott will still be our driver."

Hyder

The Woods ran 13 points races and two special events this season, qualifying in the top 10 five times including ninth at Homestead. Hyder was happiest the team only had to use one past champion's provisional to make those 13 races.

"We didn't have a goal of winning races, but we didn't want to use any provisionals and we wanted Bill to be comfortable enough that we were the fastest car that had to get into the race on speed," Hyder said, a goal that they met four times. "We did pretty well with that, though we stubbed our toes at Lowe's and Texas in the fall, after we'd gotten going pretty well."

Most significantly to Hyder, an old-school hands-on chief mechanic as Labbe is, was the Woods designing and building their own version of NASCAR's new car, in-house.

"It took us about two-and-a-half months to build it and bring it out at Homestead," Hyder said. "We were looking to get it out before that, but we got a little behind. But when we unloaded at Homestead and made just a couple runs, we felt like what we'd gained by working on one thing was worth it."