Sponsorless Yates moves forward with clean slate

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Doug Yates is a master at building race engines. Now he's hoping to be as successful at putting together a race team.

Taking over his father's operation as of Dec. 1 with help from Max Jones, Yates has the cars, drivers, equipment and personnel in place to go Sprint Cup racing in 2008. The only thing missing? Sponsorship.

"Obviously, here at the test, we've got www.sponsoryates.com on the side of our car and we're looking for people interested in the potential of a partnership with us," Yates said Tuesday during testing at Daytona International Speedway. "Right now, we have some things in the works. Of course, we would like to have something signed, sealed and delivered."

Travis Kvapil

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Yates said "there are opportunities there" for Daytona 500 sponsorship, but he wants to weigh all of his options before making a decision. Yates admits this is a gamble, trying to run a race team without having financial assistance in place. But it's a gamble he's willing to take.

"Right now, it's out of my pocket," Yates said. "Max and I are here, sweating, working hard, trying to get our Car of Tomorrow program going. We also have our own financial future at stake here, because we've put some money of our own in here to get it started.

"It's a huge chance but NASCAR's a great sport, it's been great to my family. This is what we want to do, so we're intent on feeling positive about making this work."

Most companies plan their marketing campaigns months in advance -- well before the team's plans were finalized. So Yates' best bet is to run well and hope the dollars follow, sage advice he received from NASCAR CEO Brian France back at the awards ceremony in New York.

"It is late in the game, but we are pretty encouraged about the potential performance of the team," Yates said. "And if you can get performance going the right way, you can get sponsorship to follow.

"We have some long-standing partnerships with the Ford Motor Company and some other things that can keep us going for awhile. But our intentions are to make this work and have these two cars funded and running all year long. We've got big goals and big visions and can make things happen."

So far in testing, things have gone well. Travis Kvapil was third-quickest in Tuesday morning's single-car runs, showing that Yates still builds one of the best restrictor-plate engines in the business.

But with his own money -- and reputation -- at stake, Yates is feeling the pressure. At the same time, he said the working agreement with Roush Fenway Racing is paying dividends.

"In some ways, it's a lot of stress but it's also exciting," he said. "It's a chance for Doug Yates to go out and do something on his own and make something happen. Coming down here to Daytona, it's real exciting to have the No. 28 car on the track.

"It's an uphill battle but we have some strong alliances with Roush. We have some technical alliances that make me feel better about the performance."

Both of Yates' cars are guaranteed starting positions in the first five races of the season, having finished in the top 35 in owners points in 2007. So Kvapil and David Gilliland, who returns in the No. 38, have the opportunity to get the team off to a good start.

Yates swept the front row for last season's Daytona 500 -- and Gilliland's best two finishes of the season came at restrictor-plate tracks.

So what is Yates' goal for 2008?

"I'm not expecting to go out and make the Chase and run for the championship," he said. "It'd be kind of facetious to say that. I think we can go and have some good runs and make people see there's some future in Yates Racing and that it's headed in the right direction.

"I think if we can do that and re-establish the credibility, that would be a good year. If we can talk again at Homestead, and we have the cars funded and we're building some energy and people can see what we're doing, I think that would be a successful year."