Roush-Yates alliance could circumvent NASCAR’s four-car rule
Quote selected text Published September 9th, 2007 in NASCAR News
Roush Fenway Racing officials have been looking for a way around NASCAR’s four-car cap rule ever since it was introduced at the end of the 2005 season. Their alliance with Robert Yates Racing appears to be the answer. Roush Fenway Racing, which already shared an engine program with RYR, will expand its relationship in 2008 to include building and selling cars and parts to its fellow Ford partner as well as licensing and marketing. That ultimately will allow Roush after the 2009 season — the deadline NASCAR has set for it to get to four teams — to send its fifth car and whatever employees that might go with it to RYR.
“That’s not part of the deal, but it certainly won’t shock anybody here if in two years that’s where it goes,” Roush Fenway president Geoff Smith said before Saturday night’s Nextel Cup race at Richmond International Raceway. “When you shrink an organization like NASCAR is doing to us you end up not being able to promote people because they don’t have places to go, so they end up leaving us for somebody else. This gives us a chance to really keep all that training money within our Ford Motor company camp.”
It also allows Roush to benefit from the sharing of information for basically a seven-car team that could grow to eight. Smith said he and other Roush employees have gone to great length to make sure this alliance falls within the NASCAR rules. “We are not even close to any of the prohibitions that NASCAR got,” he said.
“We’re in another universe. This is a real, careful, safe deal. We’re not close to getting near their concerns. Here’s the rules. You can’t own it, you can’t profit share, you can’t take prize money and you can’t underwrite their loss to shore them up. Those are the core rules. Then they told us about ancillary rules. You can’t lease them cars. You’ve got to sell them cars. All those rules, we’re good with that.”
More at ESPN.com
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- Gordon Merging with Yates - with Help from Ford?
- PPI to lose Tide at end of the year
- Bolin to replace Reiser as Kenseth crew chief
- Former Roush GM becomes co-owner of Yates Racing
Roush finally figured out how to screw everyone
Yep. Looks like the Whiner in the Hat figured out how to expand his empire. The good news is that NASCAR will have a year or so to decide if they want something like this to happen and put rules in place to stop it. What’s to stop him from banding together all the Ford teams and basically having a 16 car team or something insane?
You know darn good and well that if JGR did this with the Toyota teams, Jack would sh!t a brick.
Individually owned teams can work together.
Sounds like it would be another satelite team pretty much. Hendrick already has several and Gibbs has one.
Lets see George…Hendrick has had 4 stellite teams for some time (Haus MB2) so whats good for Hendrick is good for Roush. besides Nascar came up with this rule purposly to effect Roush , the reason the number was set at 4 cars. Chevy has 70 % of the cars on the track so Ford and Dodge have to help each other or just be field fillers. Toyota seems to have figured that out already.
Hey if NASCAR doesnt like it, they will just change the rules again! Like in 2006 when JR didnt make the chase, that worked real well!!!!!!
haha yep.
Like said, there’s a good year in there for a clause to be amended to the rule. They just have to hire a lawyer to differentiate what rousch/yates will do from a regular satelite team.
Sounds like he’ll move the 16 team to yates, then yates will pay for all the rousch stuff for the 38 and 88 cars but not the 16 team……so basically rousch is paying yates to pay the 16 team.
I say 16 because rousch would only give up 2 numbers- the 16 and the 26.