Sadler to Roush Fenway Racing

[K.Chuck]

One off season doesn't make them awful. they needed speed at the intermediate tracks this year but it looks like its a lot better at Texas this weekend. Their Nationwide program isnt that bad anyway and that is the focus for Sadlers role at Roush.

 

[AMLNet49]

One off season doesn't make them awful. they needed speed at the intermediate tracks this year but it looks like its a lot better at Texas this weekend. Their Nationwide program isnt that bad anyway and that is the focus for Sadlers role at Roush.

They were bad last year too, they have had no speed since the Gen6 came out. They've had 2 DNQs this year, and now their real good brain, Jimmy Fennig, is hanging it up. They go through sponsors like crazy and if their performance doesn't pick up, there might not be sponsors to rescue them the next time these ones leave. Look at what happened to his good parner Yates Racing, they went from competitive and healthy with two full time fully sponsored cars and winning races to one non competitive car with a family-owned sponsor in 4 years, and ultimately, bankrupt in 5 years.

 

[David24]

Nope...most recent is the #1 that Finch ran up until last season.

It wasn't a Ford.

 

[MattSRD28]

They were bad last year too, they have had no speed since the Gen6 came out. They've had 2 DNQs this year, and now their real good brain, Jimmy Fennig, is hanging it up. They go through sponsors like crazy and if their performance doesn't pick up, there might not be sponsors to rescue them the next time these ones leave. Look at what happened to his good parner Yates Racing, they went from competitive and healthy with two full time fully sponsored cars and winning races to one non competitive car with a family-owned sponsor in 4 years, and ultimately, bankrupt in 5 years.

Robert Yates' retirement is what ultimately lead to the end of Yates Racing. Doug Yates wanted to build engines, not manage an entire race team.

Such a fate may happen to RFR when Jack Roush calls it a career, but I don't see that happening for a good long while. Then when it does, I would trust Jack to choose a capable successor who intends on maintaining and growing the team. RFR has a nucleus of young talent in Stenhouse, Bayne, Reed, and Buescher who can keep the team going for many years to come.

 

[AMLNet49]

Robert Yates' retirement is what ultimately lead to the end of Yates Racing. Doug Yates wanted to build engines, not manage an entire race team.

Such a fate may happen to RFR when Jack Roush calls it a career, but I don't see that happening for a good long while. Then when it does, I would trust Jack to choose a capable successor who intends on maintaining and growing the team. RFR has a nucleus of young talent in Stenhouse, Bayne, Reed, and Buescher who can keep the team going for many years to come.

They were going down the drain before Robert retired. Their performance was dipping in 2005, leading Sadler to leave, then Jarrett left after 06 for a team that he could barely make races with. By the start of 2007 they were already on the road to being done. They were unable to find a sponsor to replace UPS, so Mars covered both cars meanwhile their performance had continued to get worse. Then Robert retired and Mars left, but by that point their fate was long sealed. They got some decent sponsorship on one car to replace Mars but basically had none on the other, and then both ended up leaving anyway. By 2009 with only Menard, yes Doug wanted nothing to do with it so he sold to RPM, but the writing for their demise was on the wall as soon as 2005 or 2006

 

[MattSRD28]

They were going down the drain before Robert retired. Their performance was dipping in 2005, leading Sadler to leave, then Jarrett left after 06 for a team that he could barely make races with. By the start of 2007 they were already on the road to being done. They were unable to find a sponsor to replace UPS, so Mars covered both cars meanwhile their performance had continued to get worse. Then Robert retired and Mars left, but by that point their fate was long sealed. They got some decent sponsorship on one car to replace Mars but basically had none on the other, and then both ended up leaving anyway. By 2009 with only Menard, yes Doug wanted nothing to do with it so he sold to RPM, but the writing for their demise was on the wall as soon as 2005 or 2006

The team could have soldiered on if Doug Yates really had the gumption to manage a race team and persevere through the darker times that all teams go through at some point.

You could make the argument that the team never really recovered after Kenny Irwin Jr's hiring and subsequent mediocre performance. Elliott Sadler didn't turn out to be the race winner people thought he could be after winning in Wood Bros' equipment. The years of disappointment were adding up long before 2005. Only Robert Yates himself really knows why he decided to call it quits when he did.

I do know that race teams have been through much worse than what Yates Racing faced, and have come out just fine. I'll tout MWR and the current Richard Petty Motorsports as examples. But Doug Yates never really wanted to manage an entire race team. He wanted to build engines. Hence Yates Racing is no more while the Roush Yates engine program thrives.