Through a Tough Economy, Two Crew Chiefs Have Excelled in Their Last Chance

A tough economy has every race fan a little down this season. However, there are some really underrated feel-good stories of 2009 and they are not drivers, necessarily.

Richard "Slugger" Labbe (above) is the best feel good story of 2009. He and his No. 71 team with driver David Gilliland, have all but raced their way into the top 35 and have really opened some eyes this season.

Most fans remember Labbe when he won the 2001 Daytona 500 with driver Michael Waltrip. Since that day, however, Labbe has been bounced around, and it hasn't really been his fault.

After struggling with Waltrip the rest of 2001, he stayed there until the end of 2003. Waltrip and Labbe won three races together. Those team struggles were not Labbe's fault.

After 2003, Labbe moved to Evernham Motorsports with driver Jeremy Mayfield. With Mayfield, Labbe made the Chase twice and won two more races.

He stayed with EM until the middle of 2006 and a break up with Mayfield and Evernham, had Labbe out of a job.

In 2006, Labbe went to MB2 Motorsports and the No. 01 car with Joe Nemechek, finishing out the year with him.

In 2007, he moved to the No. 14 car with driver Sterling Marlin. After that team broke up, again not Labbe's fault, he was on the move again.

At the end of 2007, he teamed up with driver Jacques Villenueve, in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

In 2008, Labbe went with Villenueve to the cup series and the stay with him was brief. After sponsorship was not found for Jacques and the No. 27 car, that team was abandoned, leaving Labbe again without a job.

Labbe then moved to Bill Davis Racing's truck team and finished out the year with Scott Speed.

In 2009, Labbe moved to the No. 23 Mahindra Tractors car with Mike Skinner at the Daytona 500. A mechanical failure had Skinner finish last in his Gatorade Duel this season. After that, Labbe moved to the No. 71 TRG Racing Chevrolet, with driver David Gilliland.

Since that move, TRG Racing has made all four races with Labbe and Gilliland, and appear on their way to a successful season.

It's a nice story for Labbe, who most Cup teams have given up on to be a successful crew chief. Labbe is one of the feel-good stories in 2009.

Another crew chief most Cup teams gave up on was Doug Richert, who is the crew chief of the No. 64 Gusselman Motorsports Toyota.

Most people remember Richert as a championship crew chief in 1980 at the age of 18 with Dale Earnhardt.

Richert's most recent success has been in 2005 with driver Greg Biffle. 2005 was Biffle's most successful season with six wins.

However, a slow start to the 2006 season for Biffle, cost Richert his job. In 2007 he moved to Red Bull Racing's No. 83 car with driver Brian Vickers.

He stayed there for the first half of 2007 before moving to the No. 01 car with Mark Martin and Regan Smith at the end of 2007.

In 2008, Richert was fired from the No. 01 team and moved to the broadcast booth for Speed. However, he left the Speed Channel to go with Mike Skinner in the truck series, where he finished out the year.

So when the opportunity came to crew chief the No. 64 car this year, Richert jumped at the job. He is changing tires and crew chiefing like Richert does best for this group.

Richert and driver Todd Bodine have made two of five races this season and for this team that is a good job!

Two crew chiefs who teams gave up on, have gotten a opportunity because of this economy.

Both have done a nice job with their newfound success and it's good to see two good guys, who had some terrible luck throughout their career, find some success again in the Cup Series.