NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Slugger Says 98 Ready To Roll
Crew chief “Slugger” Labbe believes Richard Petty Motorsports will survive the season...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted October 22, 2010   Martinsville, VA
Richard Labbe, crew chief for the #98 Quaker State/Menards Ford, watches his driver during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on September 4, 2010. (Photo: Getty Images)
Despite reports that Richard Petty Motorsports could shut down after Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway, one of the team’s crew chiefs says his car is good to go.

Richard “Slugger” Labbe, crew chief of the No. 98 Menards Ford driven by Paul Menard, said his team’s cars have not been directly impacted by RPMs woes. Roush Fenway Racing, which builds RPMs cars, briefly repossessed three of RPMs four cars for next week’s race at Talladega Superspeedway. But Labbe said the No. 98 wasn’t one of them.

“Our cars weren’t affected by that,” Labbe said Friday morning at Martinsville. “We’ve got our Talladega car, the engine’s going in it this morning. We’ve got our Texas cars. We’ve got all our cars for the rest of the races.”

Labbe, who next year will move with Menard to Richard Childress Racing, said he didn’t think RPM will fold before the end of the year.

There have been reports that team members were told the team wouldn’t race beyond Martinsville or perhaps Talladega and that some crew members had paychecks bounce. But Labbe said his paycheck cleared yesterday and he’s been assured by team officials that the funds are in place to make payroll.

“Yeah, we have issues,” said Labbe. “But a lot of teams have issues. I hope they get it worked out.”

RPM was thrust into the headlines when it released Kasey Kahne Wednesday night and reports surfaced that the team’s ongoing financial woes might cause it to fold.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

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