Yates Racing is on a roll

Hard-working David Gilliland may not be an instantly recognizable name, but Yates sees good things ahead for him after his second-place finish at Infineon. Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images Tim Tuttle's Mailbag Submit a comment or question for Tim. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

David Gilliland's second-place on Sunday at Infineon moved Yates Racing, only seven months old, to firmer ground on the viability scale in Sprint Cup.

For an organization trying to attract major sponsors for its two cars next season, the team's first top-five finish was an important benchmark. In fact, 16 races into the season, Yates Racing is one of NASCAR's surprising success stories.

This is a team with a familiar name under new management. Team founder Robert Yates retired following the 2007 season, selling to son Doug and Max Jones. They received top-35 points for two cars -- guaranteeing them starting positions for the opening five races of this season -- transporters and pit equipment. The team has always had a strong relationship with Ford and it pledged to continue supporting Yates.

Gilliland, 28th in the points last season, was retained. Travis Kvapil, who spent two miserable years in Cup in 2005 and 2006, was given a second chance after spending 2007 in NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series. Ricky Rudd, who retired, had driven the second RYR entry to 33rd in the points in 2007.

The team was reorganized, keeping about 60 percent of the personnel and hiring the rest. Some were moved around, including crew chief Todd Parrott from Gilliland;'s No. 38 to Kvapil's No. 28, and crew chief Cully Barraclough from Yates' Nationwide Series team (which no longer exists) to Gilliland.

With 10 races to go until the Chase for the Cup begins, Kvapil is 18th in points and has three top-10s; Gilliland is 21st and has one other top-10 in addition to his second place at Infineon.

"We started this team on Dec. 1 and in the beginning nobody gave us a chance of surviving," Jones said. "We're doing well. From a team aspect, we're arriving. A lot of people who I have respect for said we have to be patient, and a lot of people have said we're way ahead of schedule.

"People have to remind me to be a little more upbeat. We've only been in existence seven months. I'm pushing guys pretty hard, pushing the crew to put together nice cars and not everybody thinks I'm a nice guy. But we're getting results. We're not here to participate, we're here to win."

Jones was previously the general manager of Roush Fenway Racing's Cup programs and is in charge of the day-to-day operations. Doug Yates runs Ford's Roush-Yates engine department.

"With Robert retiring, Doug was going to continue as Yates Racing and we knew each other well," Jones said. "We started talking and it really came together pretty fast. It was imperative that he run the engine shop and he needed somebody to run the team. I do exactly the same thing I did at Roush in terms of racing, but I also have had to learn the business side. It was the right opportunity for me."

Gilliland, 32, had only two top-10s last season, including a fourth at Talladega in April. He'd spent most of his career racing in NASCAR's series in the West and didn't move into a national series until 2006. In Nationwide for a new team owned by Clay Rogers, Gilliland won at Kentucky in his seventh start in the series, which was dominated by Cup regulars that season. Yates hired him to replace Elliott Sadler, who left with 14 races remaining in the Cup season for Gillett Evernham.

"Infineon was David's 67th start in Cup," Jones said. "He hasn't run a full Nationwide or Truck season. He doesn't have a lot of experience. He digs hard, he's dedicated, he's at the shop. He knows cars because he was crew chief for his dad's [Butch] championship [NASCAR Camping World West in 1997]. He's a thinker. He gets better. If he's lacking one thing, it's just laps.

"David drove a great race at Bristol this year and finished ninth. He had a top-10 at Charlotte [Lowe's] and a tire fell out of the sky and ruined it. If you can drive at Infineon, you can drive anywhere. It means you're well rounded."

Kvapil, 32, won the Truck series in 2003. He was sixth in it last year driving for Roush, but won four races. In four previous seasons in Trucks, Kvapil had only five wins, never more than two in one season.

"Travis had won races and a championship in Trucks," Jones said. "He was still young. We wanted two young guys we could build for the future with."

Kvapil was sixth at Talladega and eighth at Las Vegas and Darlington this season.

"I think Travis has proven he belongs in Cup," Jones said.

Yates has found enough funding to make it this far and expects to run all the races. Gilliland's car has been sponsored by freecreditreport.com, which started out with a short term deal and has kept going, and Kvapil has been backed by a string of one-race deals.

"Our season is a tribute to those who stuck with us when we had all-white cars in February," Jones said. "We thought we could make it work and we have. We've had David's sponsor and one-offs for Travis and support from the Ford Motor Company. They believe in what we're doing.

"We're an awesome value for sponsors. We have two young guys performing really well that they can get involved with. I think we'd be fully funded if the economy was a little different, but there's interest. A lot of people are looking at us for '09."

Jones knows there is more to accomplish in '08 and likes his team's chances of doing it.

"I'm excited about going to these tracks a second time," Jones said. "We'll run better than we did in the first half of the season. We can win a race this year."