Yates not ready to hire crew chief for Jarrett

RICHMOND, Va. - Robert Yates didn't sound like a guy who was close to hiring a crew chief for Dale Jarrett.

Yates said Friday at Richmond International Raceway that he prefers to keep Jarrett's No. 88 team intact for the time being and let that group solve the team's problems.

	Dale Jarrett won at Rockingham earlier this season. Credit: Autostock

"I'm not ready to pollinate or pitch somebody on top of them, because I think we have a really good, solid group of guys," Yates said.

Team engineer Garth Finley took over as interim crew chief after Robert Yates Racing general manager Doug Yates released Brad Parrott. Yates said he wants to give Finley and the rest of the crew "the room, the support, the time" to get Jarrett running well again.

Jarrett won the second race of the season at Rockingham but has finished 20th or worse four times since. Parrott was fired after the Talladega race, and Finley and Richard Buck have taken the team's management.

"Everybody's chomping at the bit to contribute," Yates said. "That's a fun thing. What's going to be fun is if we get it right, everybody did contribute. That's a lot better scenario than me going out and hiring Ray Evernham, and he comes in and fixes it.

"I would take that scenario. There would be a point where I would want to do that. But I really like the way our guys are working, and I would really, really rather see them figure it out."

Yates said Doug Yates has talked to a few prospects, but "I don't see anybody coming in the door tomorrow," Robert Yates said.

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"If Ray (Evernham) comes over and says, 'I want to help you,' I'd probably be in there hammering out a deal right now," Yates said. "There's a vacancy sign, but we're always looking for more good men, like the Marines. We have a lot of good men."

Yates said he hasn't talked to Jimmy Makar, who has been in the rumor mill to move to Yates. Makar is the general manager of Joe Gibbs Racing after being moved form Bobby Labonte's crew chief in the off-season.

"That would be the last guy that would leave," Yates said. "He's just got his deal going good. That would be one of the toughest persons to hire."

Yates himself has been working a little closer with Jarrett's team. He doesn't believe the No. 88 team is as bad as some make it out to be. Sure, there are some problems, but they are solvable.

"I told the guys this week, 'OK, we've got one finger broken. We've still got nine fingers,'" Yates said. "Let's exercise and use those nine fingers to the best of our ability. When we get that 10th finger back, we'll be where we want to be."

But when that 10th finger will be back, Yates couldn't say.

"You might see me in a month or two, and I might be like, 'Hey, I've got to pollinate. I've got to him something here,'" Yates said. "But I'm still excited that we're going to figure this thing out."