DEI to Buy RYR??

[Bricoop]

Look who is interested again, John Story.

From Jayski:

DEI to buy RYR? It was reported on SPEED's NASCAR Raceday that Dale Earnhardt Inc (DEI) is interested in buying Robert Yates Racing (RYR) and RYR is interested in joining forces with DEI. It was also reported that the teams would end up being in the Chevy camp.(4-29-2007)
UPDATE: In attempts to strengthen its teams and expand to four cars, Dale Earnhardt Inc. [#'s 1,8,15] has had preliminary discussions with Robert Yates Racing [#38, #88] about a partnership, as well as Ford Motor Company and another manufacturer, DEI executive team member John Story confirmed Sunday morning. While the company also is in the midst of contract negotiations with NASCAR's most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr., DEI is working toward trying to solidify its future. That means getting the finances and the technological support it needs from a manufacturer and working toward fielding a fourth team by 2008 or 2009, said Story, who oversees sales, marketing and communications activities at DEI. What would be more startling would be the potential move to Ford or another manufacturer considering Chevrolet's long relationship with team founder Dale Earnhardt. The Chevrolet deal is not contingent on Earnhardt Jr. remaining at DEI, Story said. Yates said his team would remain Ford. Story said that talks with Yates could continue even if DEI remains with Chevrolet.(in part from SceneDaily.com)(4-29-2007)

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[FlyHiFlyLo]

John Story must have stoaked the flames again for DEI. If JR throws 50 million for 51% of DEI that money must be used for the aquisition maybe. NAPA coming back? Toyota moving to DEI?

[DailyPedal]

And the interesting part to key on here is the quote"potential move to Ford or another manufacturer" for DEI. Yates has a long relationship with Ford and Ford can hardly afford to lose another two teams and then there is the association with Rousch...but that said, what if we threw Toyota into the bidding? Next few months will be interesting.

[NIKAL]

Does anyone else see how Robby is getting the shaft again? The RYR/RGM deal fell through, then John Story leaves and goes to DEI. Paul Menard is in his last year of his contract with DEI and its not looking like he might make it into the top 35 in points this year. Dad has plenty of money to help DEI buy the RYR deal. By doing so Paul could then get the #88 points. So there would be no reason for Paul to leave and get into the second RGM car and this inturn would mean John Menard would have no reason to continue to help RGM. I could be wrong but I just see this happening to Robby.

I think alot of this DEI buying RYR has to do with John Story and John Menard. I think the reason the RYR/RGM deal fell though was Robert Yates was not sure of the future of the Yates name with it being merge with Robby Gordon. RGM does not yet have the structure that DEI has. But Yates feel comfortable knowing that the Earnhardt's name has been in the sport a long time and it will not be going anywhere anytime soon. Also DEI has had a solid foundation for a long time and the Earnhardt name will keep the company alive and sponsors knocking on their door.

[kaw500]

I just can't see this one going down but NASCAR gets stranger by the day.

[FlyHiFlyLo]

Does anyone else see how Robby is getting the shaft again? The RYR/RGM deal fell through, then John Story leaves and goes to DEI. Paul Menard is in his last year of his contract with DEI and its not looking like he might make it into the top 35 in points this year. Dad has plenty of money to help DEI buy the RYR deal. By doing so Paul could then get the #88 points. So there would be no reason for Paul to leave and get into the second RGM car and this inturn would mean John Menard would have no reason to continue to help RGM. I could be wrong but I just see this happening to Robby.

I think alot of this DEI buying RYR has to do with John Story and John Menard. I think the reason the RYR/RGM deal fell though was Robert Yates was not sure of the future of the Yates name with it being merge with Robby Gordon. RGM does not yet have the structure that DEI has. But Yates feel comfortable knowing that the Earnhardt's name has been in the sport a long time and it will not be going anywhere anytime soon. Also DEI has had a solid foundation for a long time and the Earnhardt name will keep the company alive and sponsors knocking on their door.

DEI was in the mix the last go around with RGM/Yates. RGM was going to get the teams and DEI was going to get the facility. RG pulled the plug last time because of major issue. What was robby going to do with two John Storys, two shop foremen ect.? And a lot of the equipment Yates has RG already had.

We just need to see what happens after RGM's new shop is done. John Menard could fund a 4 car team for DEI and also a 4 car team for RGM. John and Robby are very, very good friends and will be for a really long time. Like I said, when RG has his new shop, things will happen.

[NIKAL]

More Updates!

UPDATE 2: With Robert Yates Racing and Dale Earnhardt, Inc. discussing a potential merger, how would that affect Yates-Roush Engines, which makes the motors that power all of the Ford NASCAR Nextel Cup teams? RYR co-owner Doug Yates was adamant that his team will not switch to Chevrolet power no matter what, and Roush Fenway Racing President Geoff Smith said he hopes any deal will build up the Ford NASCAR Nextel Cup effort. “We’re aware that he’s marketing his teams,” Smith said of Robert Yates prior to Sunday’s Talladega race. “We have a joint engine business that’s affected by the number of customers that we have. We want to see the Ford number of teams remain at least at its current level for the benefit of the engine business and for the competitive benefit for Ford Motor Co.”(SPEEDtv.com)(4-30-2007)

UPDATE 3: Dale Earnhardt, Inc., [DEI] will move to four Nextel Cup Series teams by 2009, be it through the acquisition of another team or the addition of a fourth team in-house, team executive John Story said Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. Story said DEI has been in discussions with Robert Yates Racing for four-to-six weeks about a partnership, but cautioned that those talks are preliminary and that no documentation has been exchanged between the teams. If DEI were to acquire Yates, one of the two teams would have to forsake its manufacturer. Yates, a Ford flagship team for nearly two decades, would move to Chevrolet; or DEI, whose founder, Dale Earnhardt, won seven championships in Chevrolets, would move to Ford. "The only proposal we have right now for a manufacturer next year is from Chevrolet," Story said. "Teresa [Earnhardt] has been tremendously loyal to Chevrolet for a lot of years. We've had some conversation with a couple other manufacturers. They've called to inquire what our contract situation was. We told them, in fairness, we are going to sit down and exhaust our options with Chevrolet first, and if the opportunity came up we'd talk to somebody else. We haven't seen anything in writing from anybody else." RYR president Doug Yates said they'd rather stay in Fords, and that Ford Racing officials see a DEI merger as a way to get Ford back to prominence in Nextel Cup. But he didn't rule out a manufacturer switch. How this impacts Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s contract negotiations isn't known, but Story said a deal with Ford and RYR isn't contingent on Earnhardt Jr. staying at DEI. Earnhardt Jr. wants controlling interest in DEI, but Chevrolet officials want to keep him.(ESPN.com)(4-30-2007)

UPDATE 4 Toyota denies talks: Toyota’s Lee White says his company was not involved in any talks with DEI: “We have not had any conversations with Dale Earnhardt Jr. “There is a tremendous amount of both equity and liability involved with Dale Earnhardt Incorporated and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet has such equity built into Dale Earnhardt Jr. and that particular race team - that equity is great for the bigger picture and the health of our sport. Right now Toyota is not ready to take on the liability that would come with that scenario.”(Winston Salem Journal)(4-30-2007)

[RGFan]

DEI was in the mix the last go around with RGM/Yates. RGM was going to get the teams and DEI was going to get the facility. RG pulled the plug last time because of major issue. What was robby going to do with two John Storys, two shop foremen ect.? And a lot of the equipment Yates has RG already had.

We just need to see what happens after RGM's new shop is done. John Menard could fund a 4 car team for DEI and also a 4 car team for RGM. John and Robby are very, very good friends and will be for a really long time. Like I said, when RG has his new shop, things will happen.

While I do not doubt your knowledge on the situation, the facts are RG has a major hole in sponsorship this season that they have not been able to fill. John Menard could do as you said very easily and yet has not filled the hole that RG has in his sponsorship for his single car team. There was supposed to be a two car team this season, instead we have a underfunded single car team.............. And the teams results up to now state they are underfunded. I just hope RGM will be able to float and grow and not sink into the abyss like their last attempt in 2000

[NIKAL]

Ford Racing Aware of DEI-RYR Merger Talk:
In response to media reports from this past weekend, Ford Racing confirmed it is fully aware of merger talks that have taken place between Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) and Robert Yates Racing (RYR) officials. “Ford is fully committed to Robert Yates Racing for the long-term, and they have assured us that are similarly committed to Ford,” said Kevin Kennedy, Ford Racing Technology Communications Manager. “Robert and Doug have been in contact with Ford about the nature of the discussions. We have a valued partnership with them, and they are keeping us informed of those discussions like a true partner would. We fully expect they will remain with Ford for many, many years.” Robert Yates Racing and Ford have a relationship that goes back to the formation of the race team in the late 1980s, and Dan Davis, director of Ford Racing Technology, has repeatedly stated that the manufacturer is fully committed to bringing RYR back to the top of the field. Media reports this past weekend also stated that Ford had been in discussions with DEI about a switch from Chevrolet to Ford for the 2008 season. Davis has repeatedly said that Ford is interested in adding championship-level teams to its Cup roster. “We definitely have been talking with DEI. Truthfully, we’ve been having informal talks with them for several years,” said Kennedy. “We have not yet made a formal offer to them, but we know that their GM contract is up at the end of the year. We had some discussions with them, and we’ve made it clear that we’d love to have them in our program.”(Ford Racing)(5-1-2007)

[RGFan]

Do you guys find it funny though that the guy that was in the way with the whole RGM/RYR merger (John Story) is the facilitator with the new round of talks with DEI/RYR.........I wonder how RG feels about that one.