Team overhaul should put Yates in title hunt

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Robert Yates Racing's two-car team of Ford Tauruses could be a dark horse threat to win the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup championship with either veteran Dale Jarrett or newcomer Elliott Sadler.

Past Stories  Yates' year fraught by off-the-track distractions  RYR makes sweeping changes within teams  Back problems increase stress level for Yates

The team has been grossly reorganized -- with a new management structure and new crew chiefs -- and yet everyone within the company feels that a championship is within its reach.

One of the biggest changes has involved moving Yates' son Doug from manager of the engine program to overall general manager of both teams.

Jarrett said it has been a noticeable plus.

"Doug's doing great -- I'm very impressed," Jarrett said. "Robert is such a brilliant man, but he has such a kind heart that when it came time to make changes that needed to be made, that was very difficult for him to do (and) Doug has come in and made those changes.

"It's not that he's cold-hearted, but he's going to make the decisions that need to be made for us to be championship caliber teams and that's what we need to get back to. I think he's very happy and it's going to be very beneficial to this race team for him to be in charge."

Rudd: Sadler's team will benefit from shop move

The most telling assessment, however, comes from the driver that most recently stepped out of Yates' No. 28 Havoline Ford after a three-year stint -- veteran Ricky Rudd.

	Ricky Rudd's tenure with RYR left him bruised -- literally. A fight with a crew member at Richmond in September was the low point of his 2002 season. Credit: Autostock

"They're doing a lot of things -- smart things -- that needed to happen, that should have happened two years ago and they wouldn't do it," Rudd said. "I think you'll see better results and better consistency.

"When I came on board, the powerhouse 28 team was in about a 6,000-square-foot rented shop. It wasn't a pretty shop -- it was dirty (and) there was virtually no equipment to work on."

Ironically, one of the bigger changes at Yates involves an aspect that Rudd said helped contribute to a downswing of the 28 operation -- which will reappear this season as the No. 38 M&M's Ford driven by Sadler.

The two teams have been reunited in the same shop.

"They (28) used to be paired with the 88 team downtown," Rudd said. "Then that got to be a big controversy and they split those two teams up because (former crew chief) Todd Parrott didn't want the distraction of the 28 team in his shop.

"Well, the 28 sort of came out on the short end of that deal. They ended up in a rented shop with very little equipment to work with and even though they had some good people, the roster was cut down to a minimum.

"A lot of them stayed behind with the 88, so some of the old 28 team, the original team people think of, is really the 88 team today.

"I feel sort of bad for Kenny Irwin because he didn't have much of a chance there because there wasn't much there to work with -- not to belittle the people, but they didn't have the equipment.

"When I came on board, Robert hired about eight to 10 of my guys that were really good, quality guys -- he strengthened his personnel and he also moved the team out of that sort of ratty shop into a nice facility -- my old facility -- and then improved it on top of that.

"I think you're going to that team in an up year and I think you'll see it stay up."

Sadler, Jarrett using same equipment

	Dale Jarrett (top) and Elliott Sadler (below) will share the same shop space. Credits: Autostock

Sadler and Jarrett have worked hard, along with their crews, to make their cars interchangeable and the reaction to that, the younger driver said, has been remarkable.

"When we went to test at Talladega a month ago we switched cars," Sadler said. "The guys looked at us and said, 'That's the first time we've ever had two drivers do that.' So I think they kind of saw from our lead that we're going to work together -- period.

"We actually have the same exact seats in every car -- same everything -- so we're going to be able to interchange. With this new concept we have on this team, if one car is better and I want to run that car, even if it was UPS last week, it's going to have M&M's on it this week."

While it's made the two teams more effective, it's also improved their morale, a priceless commodity in Winston Cup.

"I think there's a new attitude at that race shop from me going to meet with the guys last year to now," Sadler said. "It seems like it's not even the same race team. I think moving the guys into the same shop was a big plus to them, but I think a lot of it goes to DJ and I being such great friends and us working together."

Jarrett concurred.

"Todd is basically the director of competition," Jarrett said. "One thing Todd's working extremely hard on is that last year, what was the 28, a number of times they ran a different chassis than what we did.

"We've been pretty much all in-house chassis with the 88 car and our goal before mid-season is to run all in-house stuff and the cars to be the same."

In the end, Jarrett said Sadler might be the biggest prompter -- and beneficiary -- of the changes.

"Elliott brings a lot of enthusiasm over and a lot of knowledge (and) he's got a different way of looking at things," Jarrett said.

"Nothing against losing Ricky (because) it's hard to replace that kind of experience with a teammate, but I think we're going to see that Elliott Sadler brings a lot to the table and will be very beneficial to us."