Doug Yates, right, said Friday that you have to grow if you're going to be competitive in the Nextel Cup Series. Credit: Autostock

Rumors of RYR sale to Robby untrue, sort of

Yates admits to thoughts of merger with Gordon, others

In this day of 24/7 access to just about anything and everything, there's virtually nothing that prevents anyone with a computer, electricity and a phone from becoming the next Marty Smith...well, without the hair, anyway.

	Robert Yates Credit: Autostock
	Inside the Numbers RYR at a glance Starts 945 Wins 57 Top-5s 267 Top-10s 422 Poles 46 Laps Led 15,985 Avg. Start 15.4 Avg. Finish 15.9

So it should come as no surprise when rumors begin to fly that the parties involved spend more time telling people what's not happening than telling them what is happening. It sure tends to get in the way of a finely crafted business communication plan.

Just ask Doug Yates.

Yates, son of Robert and co-owner of Robert Yates Racing with his father, has been busy of late putting out fires after it was reported that Robby Gordon was making arrangements to purchase RYR so that his single-car team would triple overnight, thereby making it easier to compete on the same level as the other multi-car operations.

While the rumor caused the younger Yates to run around and deny, deny, deny, it did bring to light the desperate straits that some in the NASCAR garage are in regarding resources.

In the past, if a team owner had one car that really ran well, that was fine. Two cars, with the teams being able to share some information and some resources, that was cool too. Three cars, that was starting to be overkill, and four cars was downright ostentatious.

But now, four teams are considered the absolute minimum to be competitive in Cup; not world-beaters, just competitive.

All of that leads us to a word that became all the rage in the 1980s: merger.

Yates flatly denied that Gordon was buying anything from him or his father. But he blinked a bit when asked if there had been discussions of a merger.

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"There's no doubt that you have to grow to be to that level," Yates said last Friday at the press conference announcing David Gilliland as driver of the No. 38 Ford. "NASCAR set the limit at four teams, that's what was out there and if you're going to compete, you've need the resources of four teams. I think we all agree on that. How you get there is things we've been kicking around. It's tough to grow, it's tough to find great sponsors like M&M's. They're just not around every corner, so how do you do that? We've been exploring opportunities and that's some of the things that are swirling.

"Robby's not buying our whole place. I want to put that to rest. Man, you guys [media] caused us a lot of pain, I'll tell you that."

In the next breath, Yates said that RYR is trying to find some opportunities to grow, which is code for merger.

"We're looking for opportunities to grow our business," he said. "We have to make smart decisions for the future. My dad is at the point in his career where if he's making every decision of every day he wants to pass the torch off. And I've got a lot of responsibilities on my shoulders. Sometimes you need some energy to help you get there."

Typically, in the business world, there are many reasons for merger. One, like the Yates', is to inject new blood and new energy into a going concern to help it become more successful. Another is to combine companies that have obvious and different strengths into a single entity that controls more of a particular business arena or market.

In effect, Yates and a potential merger with Gordon or anyone else makes abundant business sense.

"We're going to see how things shape up and make the best decision for our organization, our people, to get a chance to get our cars in Victory Lane," Yates said. "That is the goal. How you get there, those are tough decisions. But the goal is to get our organization back where we can win the Brickyard, we can win the Daytona 500, we can have four teams that are competing at a very high level every week. That's a tough 'how do we get there?' And that's what we're looking for."

Another reason for merger is direction. Yates and his team have been a driving force in NASCAR since 1987, when Davey Allison raced his way into the NASCAR record books driving No. 28.

The company has always been noted for the prodigious horsepower Yates engines produced, and given the success of Roush/Yates Racing Engines in the past couple of seasons, there's ample proof it still exists. But the sport has changed in many ways since 1987, and there are aspects of that change that RYR must address.

Merger, as stated above, makes abundant sense for Yates and whoever is chosen to participate.