NASCAR operations keep getting bigger
Gilliland, just an unknown rookie, was a quick pick last summer when Elliott Sadler bailed to Ray Evernham’s. That was just a couple of weeks after teammate Dale Jarrett announced he was splitting at the end of the year to join Toyota, with $20-million-a-year sponsor UPS going with him. Not until very, very late in the season did the Yateses, Doug and his father, Robert, lure Ricky Rudd out of quasi-retirement to continue as a two-car team.
Yes, it has been a rough few years for the legendary Yates operation, and that double front-row start at Daytona three months ago apparently wasn’t a turning point. The two teams came here 25th and 34th in the standings, with only two top-10 finishes.
The Yateses once ran one of NASCAR’s powerhouse franchises. But that 1999 championship is now way back there in the dust, and the Yateses are scrambling to get everything back on track. Their latest move – a possible merger with Dale Earnhardt Inc. – has shocked and perplexed the NASCAR garage. There are so many unanswered questions and loose ends that now, a week later, rivals are still scratching their heads.
“It’s really simple," Yates said. “We’re trying to figure out how to get to where Rick Hendrick is: strong and good.
“So we’re looking at every option. We’ve looked at every scenario in the garage."
It’s part of the mad dash to four that is sweeping this sport. With Hendrick mowing down the competition with his four solid Chevy teams, and with Jack Roush boasting five top Ford teams, the smaller NASCAR operations are all in a rush to reach the four-team limit that NASCAR’s Brian France has set.
But why it should take a four-team operation to be successful in NASCAR is still unclear. Maybe France should have gone further and set a two-team limit, or three-team limit, for more diversity. Maybe France should make both Hendrick and Roush divest. More at Winston-Salem Journal