Sunnyside up: after stumbling through a dismal 2003, Elliott Sadler and Robert Yates Racing are starting 2004 with a bright outlook

Sporting News, The, March 1, 2004 by Lee Spencer

Elliott Sadler's out-of-control ride last September at Talladega was emblematic of his entire first season with Robert Yates Racing.

Sadler started the race from the pole position--the second pole of his five-year Cup career--but while jockeying for the lead with six laps to go, his No. 38 Ford collided with Kurt Busch's No. 97 and flipped end over end. Sadler was airlifted to a hospital and was released later that day.

He describes the experience as "the wildest" ride of his life. It also served as the catalyst to turn his life around.

"Not many times you get in wrecks like that," Sadler says. "I've seen (drivers) have wrecks that didn't look half that bad, and they lost a lot of time out of racing.

"I feel very lucky that one, I lived through that accident, that two, I wasn't injured, and three, I have a different way of looking at life now."

That includes a brighter outlook. This season, Sadler won one of the Twin 125 Daytona qualifiers, finished seventh in the Daytona 500 and had top 20 finish at Rockingham. He has his best chance to display his talent, in part because the Taurus has been improved and Yates and Roush Racing have a combined engine program that's helping both organizations. Yates personnel also has been realigned.

"I expect the Yates cars to be a lot better now, seeing that they probably hired three-quarters of our fab shop from Hendrick Motorsports," says Chad Knaus, crew chief for Jimmie Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet. "Yeah, I'd have to say their stuff looked a lot nicer. The teams will do well, but I don't expect a strong comeback. I would be very surprised if that happened."

Last season, Sadler and teammate Dale Jarrett shared garage space in Mooresville, N.C., and the assumption was that the two teams would work together.

Instead, Jarrett's victory in February at Rockingham was the only by Yates in 2003. The entire organization went into free fall, and both crew chiefs were replaced. After his win Jarrett was second in points but finished 26th. Sadler reached 10th after the 10th race and finished 22nd.

Team owner Robert Yates accepted responsibility for the company's downturn and vowed to re-establish RYR's status.

"The team was going in the wrong direction. I was certainly the cause of that," Yates says. "I've been a part of a few successful deals over the years. I've made a few good calls in life on chassis and building cars, but last year just didn't work. I think we tried to get there by taking the longest route, and we were always behind.

"I had young crew chiefs. They wouldn't argue with me, but they would question themselves. The cars looked terrible. I didn't think it would go away unless I did something major."

Yates needed an reorganizer. Enter Eddie D'Hondt, who had the managerial and mechanical skills RYR needed.

"Everything he promised he could do up front has come true," Yates says. "Eddie is tough, but he's fair. He leads. He doesn't push. I'm happy to have someone to look after so much of the stuff and recruit. He knows people, and he knows the pulse of the sport.

"He recruited my championship team (for Jarrett) back in '99, and he's just gotten better. I didn't know how badly I needed him, but he's turned out to be a hell of a general manager."

D'Hondt brought in former RYR car chief Mike Ford, who spent the last three years with Bill Elliott establishing himself as one of the circuit's sharpest and savviest crew chiefs, to be Jarrett's crew chief.

Ford, who worked on Elliott's Dodges at Evernham Motorsports, says a goal is to apply what he learns.

"When I left here at the end of '99, I felt like for the position I was in I was topped out," he says. "The learning curve was a flat line, and I felt like I needed a new challenge.

"... Even today, coming back and working on these Fords, I'm continually learning. It helped to be in a different capacity coming back from where I left. It was a huge opportunity, getting a chance to run a team."

When Ford left Yates, there was an unhealthy competition between the Nos. 88 and 28. The shops and crews were separate, and the crew chiefs were far from being on the same page. That competition became a cancer in the organization and certainly wasn't a model followed by successful operations.

During Ford's absence from RYR, he observed the cars deteriorating and says it was "obvious they lacked direction." Ford agreed to return to the company only if he and Sadler's crew chief, Todd Parrott, whom he worked under at RYR, could operate in unison. He knew the resources and potential were there to restore RYR to championship caliber.

"Seeing how dedicated to racing Robert and Doug (Yates, engine builder) are, it was just a matter of getting the guys working on the right stuff," Ford says. "It was difficult to come in and have a hodgepodge of cars and people searching for the right answers but not gaining any consistency."

Parrott, who was burned out working as Yates' team manager and took a leave of absence last April, says the teams are working together better than ever. He's thrilled to have Ford back on board.