Now teammates, Ryan Newman and Bobby Labonte are ready to compete for victories in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
The NASCAR Cup Series champion and Daytona 500 winner will be teammates this year—just not in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Bobby Labonte, who won the Cup Series championship in 2000, will team with 2008 Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman in select events on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour in 2023.
The duo, who first worked together during last year’s season finale at Martinsville Speedway, will drive for Sadler Stanley Racing thanks to a Pace-O-Matic sponsorship. The cars will be serviced by PSR Products, a body and parts manufacturer led by Phil Stefanelli.
Both drivers have their own reasons for their racing modifications at this point in their careers. Labonte credited an invitation to go see modified races at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with getting him interested in racing cars affectionately known as ground courts.
Related: 2023 NASCAR Whelen Revised Tour Schedule
“Bowman Gray is nearby, and I kind of got an invitation to go over there and watch him. I kind of got a fever,” said Labonte, 58, who was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2020.
Labonte has spent the last two seasons racing modifications in the Southeast for team owner Mike Smith, whose junior operation helped Labonte get his feet wet in the division. But the team had a tight budget and the crew had full-time jobs away from the race shop.
This is where Sadler Stanley Racing, owned by former NASCAR driver Hermie Sadler and Virginia Senator Bill Stanley, comes into the picture.
“We had one car, one engine. It was hard. Everyone works full time, so it was hard to get anything more than that, and I think I wore everyone out, to be honest with you,” Labonte said of Smith’s team. “Obviously I knew. Hermie for 20, 25 or so years, and I met Senator Stanley the year before last.
When the opportunity arose and they wanted to expand a little bit into a two-car team, Pace-O-Matic wanted to do some North races, and we threw one at Martinsville last year at the last minute, but we’re going to make a more serious effort this year.
The 2023 season marks Newman’s second year working for Sadler Stanley Racing after partnering with the team for three events last season.
They worked together for the first time during a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at Richmond Raceway last year, when Newman led laps early and finished 13th. He followed that up with a win in a non-NASCAR event at North Wilkesboro Speedway and a third-place finish in the final round at Martinsville.
For Newman, who is stepping away from the NASCAR Cup Series after the 2021 season, everything revolves around his daughter Brooklyn’s racing schedule. Includes his race schedule.
“I don’t want to be racing and saying it can’t,” said Newman, whose car will carry additional support from Aggressive Hydraulics and Montrose Moulders. “My first priority is when you go to the racetrack, we go. Then it’s all there for the padding, for me there are opportunities to go racing.
“In the end, I just want to go racing. I think it’s a really great race car. Very little downforce, lots of tyres, lots of engines and drivers who are very respectful when it comes to talent.”
Unlike Labonte, Newman has extensive NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour experience. He made his first tour start in 2008 and has competed in 32 events over the years, winning four times.
He thinks he can add to that win overall with Sadler Stanley Racing.
“We’ve proven at North Wilkesboro and Martinsville that we’re a good combination,” said Newman, 45. He understands being a driver. I can’t say he fully understands being a crew chief, because I don’t know he’s ever done that, but I think he understands enough about racing that it’s easy to have a conversation with.
“Senator Stanley is a combination of a racing fanatic and a car owner who lives and breathes. He’s finally just engaged. He’s a behind-the-scenes guy that most race teams don’t have. Nice to be a part of it.”
Labonte has specifically named events in Richmond, North Wilkesboro, and Martinsville as races he plans to enter in 2023. Newman has not disclosed his exact schedule, other than that he plans to stay close to home.
Like Newman, Labonte believes the Sadler Stanley Racing team will be competitive wherever they go. Visiting Victory Lane for any of the drivers is out of the question.
“I want to go out there and definitely do the best I can and learn as much as I can,” Labonte said. “I race guys who’ve done this their whole life or some kind of short track their whole life, and I haven’t.
“I really feel like the opportunity we have with Sadler and Stanley — we can be competitive everywhere we go. If we’re not, it probably falls on me as much as I don’t know about the track or what this car is going to do or things like that.”
Labonte and Newman have raced against each other for years in NASCAR’s top level, but this is the first time they’ve ever raced on the same team. Both are confident that they will quickly converge with each other.
“It’s going to be very interesting, no doubt, because we’re competitive, we’re both passionate, and we have resumes that speak for themselves,” Newman said. “I think there will be a lot of guys in the garage who will respect us, and I think there will be some guys who will want to surpass themselves and outpace themselves in talent only to say they beat us.
“I look forward to being Bobby’s teammate and working together.”
Labonte echoed Newman’s ideas. He believes the two drivers will only make Sadler Stanley Racing better.
“For me and Ryan, we know exactly what having teammates is and how it all works,” Labonte said. “You have to make it work. It’s easy with him, because we have as many similarities as there are likes on and off the track. I think the connection and the relationship will be easy for me.
“I know his goal is the same as mine. Our goal is to help SS (Sadler Stanley) Racing be better week after week.”