What really happened with Ricky Rudd and Robert Yates?
This is the perfect example of not communicating and letting the media deliver your message for you. This series of events took a decent team and turned it inside out. The Texaco sponsorship was up for renewal and Yates figured they would not be back. The M&M’s deal was on the table so Yates signed up M&M’s anticipating that Texaco was gone. All the while, Rudd did not want to sign a long-term deal with anyone and put Yates on notice he wanted a one-year deal. This was contrary to what M&M’s wanted. The media saw blood in the water and went after the story. Yates looked for a driver while Rudd assumed he was out the door. Texaco decided to stay, so Yates had three sponsors for two teams. Texaco and Rudd were sent packing. All of this mess and hard feelings occurred because of a lack of communication and false assumptions. Texaco has moved to Ganassi, Rudd is at Wood Brothers, and now Elliott Sadler has replaced Rudd. The M&M’s deal is for the big bucks. Now there are hard feelings betw
