Robert Yates Racing has joined forces with multiple Champ Car title winning outfit Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing in both eh Nextel Cup and Busch Series.
Still struggling to revive his teams' flagging NASCAR fortunes, RYR will immediately take on the Yates/Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing moniker and although the 2007 season is pretty much a write off in terms of getting into the end of season Chase for the Championship Yates is hoping that this new deal will help his team get a head start in 2008.
“This is a wonderful partnership,” said Robert Yates, founder of Robert Yates Racing. “This gives us a clear vision how to get to the top. It is our goal to continue to build so this team will be better positioned to contend for the championship.”
After winning the NASCAR title in 1999 with Dale Jarrett YNHL Racing has slipped down the pecking order in recent seasons with current Cup drivers Ricky Rudd and David Gilliland 30th and 27th respectively in the Nextel Cup drivers standings and this new association with the most successful of all the Champ Car teams has, understandably, got the boss thinking about a return to championship glory.
For Haas, he is hoping that his third foray into the world of NASCAR ownership is more successful than his most recent, a partnership with Travis Carter.
“I am very proud of our accomplishments in the Champ Car World Series and hope we can have the same success in NASCAR,” added Haas. “We have been looking to add other forms of racing to our Champ Car programme and when the opportunity came along to work with Robert Yates Racing, a team that shares the same drive for success that we do, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
I think that the NASCAR and Champ Car programmes can learn something from each other and only enhance the championship level that Robert Yates Racing and Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing have competed at in previous years.”
“We have always been an engineering driven team,” said Paul Newman. “We think we have something special to add to the benefit of both. This in no way lessens our commitment to open wheel racing, we want to broaden our horizons.”
“The opportunity of joining Robert and Doug Yates is an opportunity of a lifetime,” added Michael Lanigan, a new partner in Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. “The Yates family has been competing against the best and winning for many years. We look forward to a long and productive association.”
![Ricky Rudd (Snickers Ford) [pic credit: image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/289096.jpg)
