Bobby Labonte moving to RGordon's team at Loudon; Jimmy Fennig new crew chief for MKenseth

  Bobby Labonte: disappointed in the season so far, and moving on (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

  (Updated)

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   In a curious move, Bobby Labonte is leaving Chevy's Kevin Buckler and moving to what looks like a part-time role driving for Robby Gordon, this week at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
   The move comes after a lackluster spring with the Buckler operation, which the California sports car veteran has raised to a Sprint Cup level team.
   Labonte is the 2000 NASCAR Cup tour champion, though winless on the tour since 2003.
   Gordon, who just had his best finish of the season with a second at Sonoma, offered little further explanation to what might happen next, except to say "When we found out that Bobby was available to drive for us, we jumped at it.
   "To have a past champion driving your car is a good opportunity.  I think we can learn from him this weekend and it will help our program moving forward."
   Labonte, who says he's exploring options for the rest of the season, says "I can't thank Robby and his folks enough for this opportunity.
  "They had a great finish at Sonoma and have some momentum right now."
   Labonte says he's open to just about anything in NASCAR right now, including Trucks and Nationwide. "I want to be in a position to win races and be competitive," he says.
   "I have worked as hard as possible to give my best at the track so far this season. I'm now looking to move on and get back into a position to win races."
   Labonte, 23rd at Sonoma, is 31st in the standings, with season's bests of 21st at Daytona and Bristol.
    Labonte is finding he's still pretty popular in the Cup garage: James Finch just hired him Wednesday afternoon to drive his Chevys at Daytona and Chicago.
    Presumably the Finch cars would be Hendrick Motorsports-engineered, a big plus. "I've known Bobby for a while, and he always works hard behind the wheel," Finch says.
   "This is a good opportunity for us to race for a win."
    Daytona would be Labonte's 600th career Cup start.
                             
   And that's not the only change in the Sprint Cup garage.
   Jimmy Fennig is taking over as crew chief for Matt Kenseth, with Todd Parrott -- Kenseth's crew chief since February -- moves back to the R&D shop.
   Fennig, a veteran in the sport since his days with Bobby Allison, helped crew Kurt Busch to the 2004 Cup title.
   Kenseth, the 2003 tour champ, has had good runs and bad runs this season, and the inconsistency has been aggravating. Kenseth, 2nd at Atlanta, has had only two top-10 finishes since April, and the last three weeks he's finished 17th, 14th and 30th.
   Fennig's car chief will be Richie Davis.

 Robby Gordon: great run at Sonoma. Momentum? (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)