Nov 2, 2006

Robert Yates Turning The Corner?

It's been a season full of tribulations for Robert Yates Racing. In a matter of months, the organization that won the 1999 championship lost two drivers and a big money sponsor. But after several personnel changes, Robert Yates Racing may be turning the corner.

For most of the season, Dale Jarrett and Elliott Sadler have ran in the bottom half of the field, with the exception of Daytona and Talladega. In fact, at Lowe's in May, Elliott Sadler may have had the slowest car on the track.

Jarrett was often found buried back in the 30's on the race leaderboard. Eventually, Jarrett and UPS were lured away from Yates' organization as they will move on to Michael Waltrip Racing in 2007.

And even before Jeremy Mayfield was released from Evernham Motorsports, it was a foregone conclusion that Sadler would become the driver of the 19 Dodge.

Yates hired the Busch Series Cinderella Man David Gilliland to replace Sadler in the 38 Ford. In June, Gilliland shocked the NASCAR world when he drove around Denny Hamlin and J.J. Yeley at Kentucky to win the Busch Series event. Gilliland was driving for the unknown Clay Andrew Racing.

Gilliland had trouble with the Nextel Cup cars at first. But he is beginning to come around and is no longer that moving chicane. He gained some momentum after he won the pole at Talladega, and finished 15th. At Atlanta, he consistently hung around the top 20, and ultimately scored his second 15th place finish in four races. Now Gilliland is running better in that 38 Ford than Sadler was before he bolted, and a lot of that can be credited to the return of Todd Parrott.

Jarrett drove from the back at Atlanta, and was easily a top fifteen, if not top ten car for a majority of the afternoon at Atlanta, but unfortunately, no one really noticed.

It wasn't long ago when both the 38 and 88 teams struggled just to run in the top 30, now they have seemingly become a consistent top fifteen organization. That's a huge jump for the Robert Yates Racing organization.