Veteran NASCAR crew chief and current NASCAR America analyst Slugger Labbe has a new job.
Labbe announced on this morning’s The Morning Drive on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that he has joined Toyota Racing and Toyota Racing Development as Manager of Teams and Vehicles Support.
Labbe’s duties will be stretch across all forms of Toyota’s racing involvement including NASCAR, NHRA drag racing, NASCAR K&N Pro Series, USAC, Rally Series and several other series.
“It’s going to be a challenge for me, working for an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) after being in NASCAR for 32 years,” Labbe said. “But working with the various racing divisions of Toyota Motorsports through TRD is a very exciting challenge for me and I’m looking forward to it.”
Labbe’s duties will include technical support to Toyota teams across all the various motorsports series it supports.
“I’ll be a manager of some of that direction as for what the teams specifically need,” Labbe said.
Labbe won’t have to travel far for his first assignment: the suburban Charlotte resident will be at this weekend’s NHRA event at zMax Dragway, across from Charlotte Motor Speedway.
“I get to do something completely different than NASCAR to start this weekend and I’m looking forward to that challenge,” Labbe said. “It’s going to be a pretty cool opportunity for me.”
Labbe left Richard Childress Racing as crew chief for the No. 3 NASCAR Cup Chevrolet driven by Austin Dillon on May 22.
Labbe’s departure led to a shuffle of crew chiefs within its Cup and Xfinity teams that saw Justin Alexander replace Labbe and Randall Burnett took over as crew chief for the No. 2 Xfinity Series Chevrolet.
Labbe had been a Cup crew chief with RCR since 2010. He initially worked with Paul Menard, who won the 2011 Brickyard 400 with Labbe as crew chief. He had been with Dillon since midway through the 2015 season.
In 500 starts as a Cup crew chief, Labbe has five victories, also winning three times with Michael Waltrip and once with Jeremy Mayfield.