Academy Sports To Sponsor HOFR No. 96, Labonte

Hall Of Fame racing announced that Academy Sports + Outdoors will sponsor Bobby Labonte and the No. 96 Ford for five races next season beginning at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The retailer will also sponsor the car at the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, the Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

HOF Racing, in addition to signing Labonte, recently formed an alliance with Yates Racing, and has secured sponsorship from Ask.com.

Andretti To Drive 4th EGR Car in Daytona 500?

John Andretti is expected to be named as the driver of the fourth Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevy at the Daytona 500. No word on the car number or the sponsor.

Andretti will join EGR drivers, Martin Truex Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya, and Aric Almirola.

Andretti, who has one victory at the track, and is a two-time winner in Sprint Cup competition, has driven for Front Row Motorsports the last two seasons. In 2008, he made three starts for FRM, including last year’s Daytona 500. He finished 40th.

EGR is working on a technical alliance with Front Row Motorsports for Daytona and beyond.

Labonte To Attempt Daytona 500

Terry Labonte will attempt to make this year’s Daytona 500 in a Toyota Camry fielded by newly formed Prism Motorsports, which is co-owned by former Sprint Cup and Camping World Truck Series driver Phil Parson.

The No. 66 entry will be sponsored by Window World for the 500, and the company is looking at sponsoring additional races with the team.

Following the 500, Dave Blaney, former driver of Bill Davis Racing’s No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge, then Toyota, will take over in the No. 66.

Labonte is second in line for the past champions provisional behind Tony Stewart.

Prism has also formed a technical alliance with Michael Waltrip Racing.

Companies With NASCAR Ties Eliminating Jobs

Four companies with ties to NASCAR, Sprint Nextel, General Motors, Caterpillar, and Home Depot all announced that they are cutting jobs in light of current economic conditions.

Sprint Nextel, the NASCAR Sprint Cup series sponsor, announced that it will be cutting about 15% of its workforce, or 8,000 employees. This move is expected to save the company $1.2 billion annually. Sprint has been losing customers to larger rivals AT&T and Verizon.

GM announced that it is eliminating about 2,000 jobs, as well as decreasing production at plants in the U.S. and Canada. Most of the cuts will affect plants in Michigan and Ohio.

Following a 32 percent drop in profits, Caterpillar, sponsor of Richard childress Racing’s No. 31 Chevy, driven by Jeff Burton, announced that it is cutting 20,000 jobs, or about 18% of its workforce. That includes 12,000 employees and 8,000 contractors. Caterpillar is also cutting production schedules and costs in light of the economic turmoil.

Home Depot, sponsor of Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 Toyota, and driver Joey Logano, announced that it will be cutting 7,000 jobs, or two percent of its workforce. It will also close nearly 50 stores.

Keselowski To Run 10 Races For Phoenix Racing

After deciding to run the full Sprint Cup season in 2009, Phoenix Racing has announced that Brad Keselowski will drive 10 races in the No. 09 Miccosukee Resorts and Gaming Chevy.

Keselowski will also run seven races in the No. 25 GoDaddy.com Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports. By running 17 races, if Keselowski runs the full 2010 Sprint Cup season, he will not be elligible for Rookie of the Year.

The rest of the races will be run by Sterlin Marlin, Mike Bliss, and Ken Schrader in Dodges.