Yates Racing Remains Loyal to Ford

By Evander Klum

Nextel Cup team Robert Yates Racing has confirmed that it will continue to work with Ford the maker of Ford Focus performance parts for the next few years after Ford Racing Technology has assured that it has signed another contract with the team for the next five years.

Yates has been the subject of much speculation this year as it had suggested that they were working on a deal to power the DEI cars next year. Other teams that were working on with the Dodge power were reported to have approached Yates to have their engines built by them.

However Yates despite the fact that they have gone through some difficult period recently has promised to remain loyal to Ford. The team has been working with the Blue Oval Company for the past 19 years, and was able to achieve 57 NASCAR Nextel Cup wins with one championship in 1999 with Dale Jarrett.

At present RYR is handling two Ford Fusions in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series for David Gilliland and Ricky Rudd, while Stephen Leicht pilots the squad’s lone Busch Series entry.

Team founder Robert Yates said, "For Ford to come up and support us when we're not having our best days is really a great feeling. They're not turning their back on us. They're offering us plenty of help to get this deal turned around, certainly with engineering support, so we appreciate everybody at Ford, everybody that works on them and everybody that buys them. I'm very appreciative of having this deal. We’re happy about this being done because there was speculation out there that we didn't have anything or that we were looking elsewhere. It wasn't true, but it's hard to quiet your critics, especially when your competition is trying to shoot you down, so I want to thank Ford for being loyal to us."

The last race where the team has won a race was at Talladega in the year 2005 with Dale Jarrett and continued to show that their powerful engines by sweeping the front row at the Daytona 500 this year and by putting David Gilliland on the front row at Talladega last April.

About Ford Motors

Ford Motor Company is an American multinational corporation and currently the world’s third largest automaker after Toyota and General Motors based on the worldwide vehicle sales. Last 2006, Ford was the second-ranked automaker in the US with 17.5 percent market share, lagging behind General Motors with 24.6 percent but ahead of Toyota with only 15.4 percent and DaimlerChrysler with 14.4 percent. Ford was also the seventh-ranked American-based company in the 2007 Fortune 500 list based on global revenues of $160.1 billion.

It was also last year that Ford was able to produce about 6.6 million automobiles and employed about 280,000 employees for its 100 plants and facilities worldwide. Ford is based in Dearborn, Michigan, which is a suburb of Detroit; the automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated in June 16, 1903. Ford now includes many global brands that include Lincoln and Mercury of the US, Jaguar and Land Rover of the UK, and Volvo of Sweden. Ford also owns a one-third controlling interest in Mazda.