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Nextel Cup Series Team owner Robert Yates will focus on performance, not partnerships. (Photo by Michael Heiman/Getty Images) ยป More Photos
Car owner Robert Yates has broken off discussions with potential investors into Robert Yates Racing and will remain independent, focusing his efforts on improving the team's performance. And if he's not successful at the task, Yates could step away from the sport entirely, the car owner said Saturday morning at New Hampshire International Speedway.
"I pretty much sent a letter to everybody and said right now I'm not interested in selling or anybody investing," Yates said prior to "Happy Hour" practice for the Lenox Industrial Tools 300 NASCAR Nextel Cup race. "I'm just going to try and focus on performance. I'm pretty much really tired of spending too much time working on something that doesn't benefit anything. Right now, the thing I don't need is money. The thing I need is performance, and I haven't found a person to bring me performance. That's what I'm looking for, just trying to focus on doing what I'm doing."
And that means no co-owner, outside partner or investor, at least for now.
"The problem if I sell, and I'm who I am, that puts more pressure on me," said Yates, who earlier had entertained partnerships with Robby Gordon Motorsports and Dale Earnhardt, Inc., among others. "Now, not only do I have to keep sponsors happy and drivers happy and people happy, I've got to keep an owner happy. I don't need that. I can be a lot lazier working for myself than I can working for someone else. I don't need to add pressure by selling to somebody who's going to be down my throat about, 'why aren't you running good?' I'll handle that by myself."
So after nearly a year of near deals, Yates is back to doing things his way. "Right now, I wish I would have never started the process," said Yates. "I'm probably aggravated at every attorney I've ever talked to in the whole attorney world. I'm tired of trying to explain our business to 'em. I'd much rather go meet a group of fans and talk about racing than pay 'em (attorneys) $3,000 an hour or whatever they get and end up talking about racing. I'm aggravated with that deal."
For Yates, the economics of the deal wasn't worth the headaches. I'm going to take somebody's $40-$50 million and (pay) half of that in taxes and I got more pressure than I want. If I was 35 I might
Ricky Rudd and sponsor, Mars Incorporated, future in the No. 88 Ford is still in question for 2008. (Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images) ยป More Photos
Still to be decided for next year are a driver and a sponsor for the RYR No. 88 Ford. Ricky Rudd's deal is for this year only and he has not committed either way as far as returning or not returning. And Yates, while extremely grateful that sponsor Victoria Mars agreed to sponsor the No. 88 at the last-minute this year, is hoping to find another sponsor in 2008.
"I don't want them to," Yates said when asked about Mars coming back in 2008. "They are so wonderful to me, I wouldn't ask them to do that. I hope it would not be the case where I would even have to ask them to do that. If we do our job right, we'll have a good companion sponsor."
And what of Rudd? "He (Rudd) said we can talk about it," Yates said. "Obviously he wants to do this and have fun doing this and we're working hard to get there. If we get there and have made some progress, he may want to continue. If we're having fun, I don't think we'll stop it."
Yates also said he expected to remain a two-car team in 2008, adding that he thought his successful Busch Series team with driver Stephen Leicht could use one more year of seasoning before moving up to the Cup level. "Stephen is really gaining some momentum in the Busch deal. On one hand I'd like to go ahead and bring him to Cup. On the other hand, I feel he needs to make sure he fills the box up before he moves. I don't want to mess him up by moving him too quick. It's about a 20-percent change we'd do that. If the cars aren't any better than they are today, it may be a little bit too early for him to move," said Yates.
But if he can't get the team's performance to the level he wants, Yates may step away from the sport. "I just hope we can still be good at doing Cup stuff, but I won't rule out that if I can't get it right, I probably won't do it," Yates said.
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