Gilliland Out At Yates?

With Hall Of Fame Racing forming an alliance with Yates Racing and signing Bobby Labonte to drive the No. 96 Ask.com Ford Fusion, David Gilliland figures he is the odd man out at Yates.

The team intends to field three cars this season, and, for those of you counting, the addition of Labonte and Paul Menard, who will drive the no. 98 Menards Ford, that leaves Gilliland and Travis Kvapil vying for that last ride.

Most expect Kvapil to be back next season, leaving Gilliland without a ride.

Gilliland said:

I haven’t actually had a sit-down with them, but I’m still under contract with them through 2009. So we’re just going to have to work through it, and hopefully, we can get something else going. It’s just kind of a bummer that it’s this late in the [offseason], you know? We’ll just have to see what we can come up with and see what we can try and do.

It’s Official: Labonte To HOF Racing

As previously reported, Bobby Labonte will drive Hall Of Fame Racing’s No. 96 Ford Fusion next season.

The team will be sponsored by Ask.com.

Following his release from Petty Enterprises, Labonte was rumored to be going to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing in the No. 41 sponsored by Target, or, more recently, the No. 8 Chevy. No word on who will drive that car, now that Labonte is out of the picture.

Labonte said of joining HOF Racing:

I’m excited to be part of what Ask.com is bringing to our sport. In a time like this, it’s great to see a sponsor come in with technology and ideas that will help all of the competitors in NASCAR and enhance the experience for all of our fans, no matter which driver or team they cheer for.

HOF Racing co-owner Tom Garfinkle said:

Jeff Moorad and I are excited to add Ask.com as a primary sponsor on the No. 96 car. We’ve been working closely with Ask.com for several weeks now, and their talented management team has come up with more creative ideas to serve NASCAR fans than I’ve seen in a long time. With our new Yates [Racing] partnership and having a true champion and class person in Bobby Labonte behind the wheel, we’re expecting great things on the race track as well.

Separately, Ask.com also entered an agreement to become the official search engine of NASCAR, meaning Ask.com has category exclusivity and a broad set of promotional rights.

Under the agreement, Ask.com will exclusively power the search experience on NASCAR.com.
 
Ask.com CEO Jim Safka said:

Through these partnerships, we will break new ground by applying our semantic search technology capabilities to NASCAR-related content while also tapping one of the largest marketing channels in America. Our goal is to win over the millions of loyal fans by providing them with the best NASCAR search experience on the Web, and introduce them to all of Ask’s capabilities when they come.

HOF Racing May Team Up With Yates Or Roush

Hall of Fame Racing and Yates Racing may team up to field a car sponsored by Ask.com, according to Jayski, who is pointing to Sports Business Journal.

Conversely, ESPN’s NASCAR Experts blog is reporting that HOF Racing is trying to forge a deal with Roush Fenway Racing.

If the team chooses one of the two, then it will switch from Toyota to Ford next season. The team has not named a driver at this point, but they have secured DLP/Texas Instruments for six races in 2009. DLP has sponsored the team since its inception in 2006.