Yates to Dodge? Third Team? unlikely UPDATE 2 – NO: Might car owner Robert Yates be considering a switch from Ford to Dodge next season? That’s the buzz in Detroit, although it’s unlikely that Ford Motor Company would let Yates, its biggest NASCAR star, get away. And after his third win of the season yesterday, why would Yates even think about leaving Ford, the company he has called home for so many years? “Money,” says one man familiar with Detroit’s inner secrets. “After all, Robert gave up (Ford’s) Quality Care for UPS.” Although few key figures in the Winston Cup garage expect Yates to make a move to leave Ford, the Dodge report is another twist on how tense things may be in Detroit, where for the first time in 25 years, all three of the Big Three are playing NASCAR again. Not since the mid-1970s have General Motors, Ford and Chrysler all been in this game, and it’s not quite clear how the balance of power might be shifting. And Yates said that Ford officials asked him to start a third Winston Cup team this season, with an unnamed driver, but he declined in order to focus on his current teams, with drivers Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd. And Yates said he has no plans to start a third team next season either, despite reports that Ford executives have approached him again. See full story at the Winston Salem Journal(4-9-2001) UPDATE: been told by RYR sources that this is totally untrue and they are NOT considering a switch from Ford to Dodge or any other manufacturer. Yates is signed with Ford thru 2004(4-11-2001) UPDATE 2: #28 and #88 Ream Owner Robert Yates dismissed a rumor that had him considering a switch to the Dodge Intrepid R/T camp. “There’s nothing to it,” said Yates,. “I would think if they came to us, which they haven’t, but if they did come to us, that would really say they screwed up, and the teams they did choose would be awfully upset. They didn’t come to us.” Yates’ contract with Ford runs through the 2004 Winston Cup season. “I’m not looking,” Yates said. “If you asked anybody in the grandstand what should Robert Yates be running, I think all of them would tell you Ford.”(Star Telegram)(4-19-2001)
