Wheelin', dealin'

Yates ready for silly-season talk to end

He's not a guy who occupies a driver's seat, a pit box, or the spotlight. He signs checks. Referees disputes. Actually, Robert Yates does great deal more than merely execute his Winston Cup ownership, but one thing he doesn't do is drama.

Some people thrive on it. Yates, one of NASCAR's more steadfast personalities, apparently shuns suspense unless it happens on the track, his television screen, or between the pages of a book.

"If it's a driver or sponsor in your last year, it's a tough time from January 1," he says. "It doesn't matter. I tell my sponsor, 'Don't get me in my last year because I can't stand that pressure.'"

Which is ironic, given his starring role in Winston Cup's latest silly-season soap opera. One of his drivers, Ricky Rudd, may or may not retire. As of last weekend in Pocono, Rudd hadn't decided; he's promised Yates that he will by July 15.

Until then, rumors and gossip swirl. Yates hates them. Also hates rejection. He proves it by admitting using emissaries as a high schooler to ask girls out.

"I'd much rather be talking about this than some of the issues we've had in the near past," he says, comparing Rudd's status to last year's safety issues. "This is not a miserable subject. Yeah, I may come out on the short end of the deal, but it's about opportunities, of what people want to do."

The juiciest rumor has the just-released Elliott Sadler waiting to leap from the Wood Brothers' No. 21 Ford, into Rudd's No. 28 -- with Yates' behind-the-scene blessing. That one raised Rudd's dander two weeks ago in Dover, where he grumbled publicly. Later, he grumbled privately to Yates, and the two say they're now in lockstep; Rudd simply must decide his life's course.

"I don't mind this kind of stuff as long as I come out number one," says Yates, only partially tongue-in-cheek. "I told [Dale Earnhardt, Inc. executive] Ty Norris while ago, 'I don't care how much of this stuff goes on as long as I come out on top.'"

And there's no guarantee that'll happen. Rudd, who turns 46 in September, is in the final year of a three-year deal. Yates is torn between walking away and battling on, and losing Rudd to retirement -- or worse, to another seat -- could be an organizational setback.

The veteran has stabilized the No. 28 team, a soap-opera source of its own during the 1990s driving tenures of Ernie Irvan and the late Kenny Irwin. In his first year at Robert Yates Racing, Rudd finished fifth in the 2000 Winston Cup points race. He finished fourth last season, chasing eventual champion Jeff Gordon much of the way.

Together, Rudd and crew chief Mike McSwain have become a formidable combination, and Rudd also harmonizes well with Yates’ other driver, 1999 Cup champion Dale Jarrett.

The charges of off-stage maneuvering have bugged Yates. Yes, he's talked to people. Yes, he's begun what-if preparations. Yes, he wants feedback from the No. 28's primary sponsor, Texaco, and from Ford, "although he insists neither sponsor will force his hand."

But that doesn't mean he doesn't want Rudd to return.

"We know how each other feels, a lot better," Yates says of the discussion he and Rudd had prior to Pocono. "I mean, I do. I don't think I held anything back. I wasn't sneaky. I laid my heart open to him, or my mind. He knows where I've been, where I'm at, who I've talked to, who I haven't talked to. Contracts, no contracts. Hopefully, he trusts me."

Because prior to Rudd's employment, the No. 28's last true period of stability dates to the 1989-93 era of the late Davey Allison, for whom the team was created.

And whom Yates still misses.

"He was a loyal to me as I think Doug Yates is to me," says Robert Yates, citing his son, RYR's head engine-builder. "And even on bad days when he should've quit -- I can remember telling him, 'You need to get out of here because we're running terrible' -- he would say, 'I'm not going anywhere.' He would come and pump me up when I was down. And that's all I want."

Aside from divided loyalties, divided attention is another reason all the silly-season stuff grates on Yates. He says he's a racer; he'd much rather be peering in an engine block, or consulting with crew chiefs. He also swears he's totally outdated; he'd rather buy tires than hire a business manager. And he fully expects Doug Yates, when he inherits RYR, to slam-dunk most of his father's managerial practices.

And just how much does Robert Yates hate business and contract-speak? All the rumor-whispering? Who's-talking-to-who?

"One time, I had to put everybody at DiGuard under contract," Yates says of a relationship with a former sponsor. "And that was the absolute, most waste of my energy and paper that's ever been. I think [former team member] Robin Pemberton still has five years left on his. It was ridiculous stuff that you couldn't honor if you wanted to on either party."

Until Rudd announces his intention, the only certainty is that someone will drive the No. 28 next season. Until then, it helps to be adept at musical chairs.

"As long as we can sing a song, and jump up out of a chair and have a seat when it stops, we'll all be happy," says Yates.

Denise N. Maloof covers NASCAR for CNNSI.com.

 

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