Owning it

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – His usual dark tan was nothing short of ashen. The cracks on his face had more twists and turns than a road map. His body looked like it had just emerged from a knock-down, drag-out fight with Mike Tyson.

That was Robert Yates three months ago in the second-to-last race of the season at Phoenix International Raceway.

The veteran Nextel Cup team owner was whipped and defeated. He had gone to the hospital several times in the previous weeks because he thought he felt a heart attack coming on. If he had been at war, the white surrender flag would have been in his hand.

The stress of a long slump and the defection of drivers and key sponsors finally had gotten to Yates. When he walked through the garage area at PIR that Sunday morning prior to the race, Yates was at most 48 hours away from selling his entire two-team operation and ending a nearly 40-year career in stock car racing.

Now fast-forward three months to the very day, from Nov. 11 to Feb. 11.

Yates strolled into the Daytona International Speedway media center Sunday afternoon looking at least 10 years younger. He appeared refreshed, relaxed and sitting on top of the NASCAR world after his two drivers, David Gilliland and Ricky Rudd, had just locked up the front row for next Sunday's Daytona 500 with a dominating qualifying display.

"This is as good as back in the day or better," Yates said. "It's the best day we've had in a while, so I'm happy to be here."

While the spotlight Sunday was on his drivers, Yates still basked in the residual glow. He knew that he had made the right choice by not selling out or giving up when he left Phoenix.

"Last year, I said I've done enough of this," Yates said. "[My son] Doug said, 'Wait a minute, I've been here 20 years. It's not time for you to walk out on me.' ''

As much as his body was telling him to, Yates instead listened to his heart and ultimately chose not to walk. He then went back to doing what he does best: He hunkered down and began to rebuild, even if it meant starting from scratch.

"We knew the problems we had weren't created overnight, so we weren't going to fix them overnight, either," Yates said.

He started by bringing back several key former employees such as crew chief Todd Parrott, as well as burying the hatchet with – and ultimately rehiring – former driver Ricky Rudd.

Yates also decided to step forward and retake more of the day-to-day control of the company that bears his name, allowing Doug to return to what he does best: building some of the most powerful engines in the sport and extracting every bit of horsepower he could – just like he did for Gilliland and Rudd on Sunday.

"For me, it doesn't get any bigger than this," Doug Yates said. "It's an engine builder's dream to come to Daytona and have your car sit on the front row. To start the season off, you couldn’t ask for a better way to do it."

Suddenly, what looked so dismal and hopeless three months ago in the RYR camp now looks bright and rosy on the eve of the 2007 season. Sunday's qualifying display of muscle – particularly Gilliland's 186.320-mph chart-topping burst – proved there's still a lot left under the hood of both Robert Yates Racing and the man who runs it.

"We needed for this to happen," Robert Yates said.

What stopped Yates from ultimately selling out? It's the same thing that has kept him going all these years: people. Yates knew that if he sold his entire operation – and several potential buyers had their checkbooks ready – he could have retired and lived the good life, not having to worry about working or racing ever again.

But what about the roughly 200 employees that depended on him for their livelihoods? Was this the way Yates would repay their years of loyalty, by cashing in and leaving them with nothing?

"I couldn't do it," Yates said. "I've always said that this business is all about people, that it's people who have made this organization what it is and what it has been for so many years.

"These people believed in me. I couldn't turn my back on them. What kind of person would I have been if I did that? That was something I couldn't live with and have it on my conscience."

Yates is more than glad that he listened to that inner voice now. His organization has been the talk of Daytona thus far. Not only will his two drivers have the highest-profile positions once the 49th running of the Great American Race starts next Sunday, but Gilliland already has put forth a spectacular runner-up finish in Saturday's Budweiser Shootout.

Rudd, who Gilliland said Saturday has taught him more in a little over a month of working together than anyone else has in his entire career, has embraced that mentoring role – and even is having a little fun with it and his young charge.

"The first time [Gilliland] came to Daytona, he got lost, he couldn't even find his way to the tunnel [into the track]," Rudd smiled. "And now he finishes second in the Shootout [with Rudd as his spotter] and wins the pole. It just amazes me how quickly he can pick up on things."

Rudd has seen Yates at both his best and worst. Even though he took the year off from active competition, Rudd knew things were not good at RYR last season.

"It was pretty sad to see how low things had gotten," Rudd said. "All these guys could have bailed, but they didn't."

When Rudd saw that display of loyalty by Yates' workers, he knew the best place for him to return to racing was his former home. He wanted to be part of the rebuilding process, to help develop Gilliland into a winner and to help Yates regain his position as one of the most preeminent and successful owners in the sport.

To say the least, Rudd, who will start from the front row for the third time in this his 29th Daytona 500, knows he made the right decision.

"You couldn't pick a better place to come back," Rudd said. "It's a real good feeling. I like what I'm feeling right now."

Gilliland, meanwhile, is ready to pay back Yates for the faith Yates had in him, giving him a break last year and bringing him to Nextel Cup.

"I'd like to think so," Gilliland responded when asked if he is ready to win the biggest race in the world next Sunday. "We feel like we've got a race car good enough to win the 500. I just need about 495 miles of experience, and then we'll go for it in the last five miles and try to do it."

To think how close Yates came to missing all that.

"Last year, I kind of got feeling sorry for myself," said Yates, who now plans to step aside after this season and let his son run the show. "Last night, some owners came up to me and congratulated me for staying and competing against them. … I would have thought probably they'd love to see me get out of here."

After having so many doubts last season, Yates knows now that he's wanted and loved and that the sport is a whole lot better with him in it than if he would have left it.

"Robert's got a little bounce back in his step now," Rudd said with a smile on his face.

It's been a long time since that happened. But at the high-speed rate he has gone in the last three months, Yates may go from having a little bounce back in his step to doing a wild victory dance a week from now.