Robert Yates won the Cup title with Dale Jarrett in 1999. Credit: Autostock

Yates bunch has mountain to climb

Jarrett defection, drop in aero telling signs of team's troubles

It wasn't the first indication that someone was amiss at Robert Yates Racing, but it might have been the most telling.

	RYAN SMITHSON •   E-mail Ryan •   Opinion archive

Last week, the team announced that their pair of development drivers, Matt McCall and Stephen Leicht, would be driving the team's Busch car for the remainder of the year. The move was way ahead of schedule, and for good reason.

The team is in trouble. Big trouble. And it will take management everything they've got to simply maintain what they have left.

Dale Jarrett's defection is by far the most serious problem that Robert Yates Racing has experienced since Ernie Irvan's near-fatal crash 12 years ago. With an already-drained talent pool to pick from and both of its Busch drivers at least two years away from being ready to run in Nextel Cup, the team is in dire straits.

It is not like management was not prepared. They were proactive by signing McCall and Leicht, but they obviously didn't count on Jarrett leaving two years ahead of schedule.

RYR has had to deal with a revolving crew chief door on both teams for years. Elliott Sadler's interim crew chief last season, engineer Kevin Buskirk, was one of the most highly-regarded employees on the property, and yet he wound up at Richard Childress Racing this spring.

Compounding the problem have been recent questions about Elliott Sadler's availability to follow Jarrett into the Toyota fold. Sadler probably won't leave the team, because a buyout of his current deal likely would be astronomical.

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In my very small mind, a move by Sadler is highly unlikely, but at the very least, he would be wise to leverage his status as a three-time winner in NASCAR's top series into an extension of the contract he signed only a year ago.

All is not lost. Even though Ford is angry at the loss of Jarrett, Yates has always shown that he is willing to pay excellent money despite his status as a two-car team. He might be able to lure a Casey Mears, but it will take many millions to get an experienced driver.

There is no debate that RYR continues to enjoy some of the best motors in the business, but in recent years, the team has lost almost all of its aerodynamic edge. In the past 18 months, when a RYR car has done well, it has almost always been at a restrictor-plate track, which is a bad sign.

The team has struggled badly on the very tracks that Roush Racing has dominated, which is the biggest indicator of just how far the team has fallen. As recently as 2002, RYR had more titles than Roush.

Some of the troubles can be blamed on the size of RYR -- it has remained a two-car team for 10 years, and that is unacceptable in today's NASCAR.

Robert Yates Racing certainly has the ability to get themselves out of this slump, but with a driver shortage already in place -- and with the team stuck at two cars -- it won't be easy.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.