November 17, 2006 -- Homestead-Miami Speedway -- Robert Yates, car owner of the No. 38 and No. 88 Ford Fusions, announced on Friday that he will have a two-car operation next season. He spoke to a small group of reporters just prior to practice.

ROBERT YATES, Owner - No. 38 and No. 88 Ford Fusions

Robert Yates

WHAT IS THE LATEST? "The way I'll sum it up is it's been a wonder for months and it's now full and it's wonderful. We've got sponsorship for both cars - the 38 and 88, and the 90 car. All the scenarios, I can push those away now and concentrate and focus on winning races. Things are wonderful."

SO ROBERT YATES RACING STAYS AS IS? "No, not as is but as it used to be. It's wonderful. We're gonna focus on racing and that's really what I know today. We're gonna run our three cars - our two Cup cars and our 90 car - and things are great."

YOU WILL BE THE SOLE OWNER? "I will be the sole owner responsible for ups and downs. I expect them to be all ups."

EVERYTHING IS SIGNED AND SEALED FOR THE 88? "Everything is agreed to and we're good to go. There are some great people behind us, some wonderful people behind us so we're good to go. I didn't know this until recently and I feel wonderful."

HOW ABOUT A DRIVER? "You first have to have what it takes to race and then we have some wonderful opportunities there, but that's not determined. Right today I can tell you that we're wide open and that's what we're gonna do next season. We're in business so we're happy."

YOU SEEM MUCH MORE OPTIMISTIC. "I love doing this sport, but you have to have great sponsors with it and we have that now. Things were up in the air and that was making me look at a lot of different things, but I'm so happy and excited that we've got an opportunity to get our act together and I believe we can. We're excited. I think I have wonderful teams and people that want to do this, so that's where we are today. We're excited about it and we'll try to learn a lot this weekend. As soon as the other stuff, that's really up to the other people to make those announcements. For me, I know what I've got to do. I've got a great job and I'm gonna go work hard at it."

DO YOU HAVE TO GET A DRIVER BEFORE THE SPONSOR WILL SIGN THE CONTRACT? "I can tell you that we've got everything covered and the other is just a great opportunity for whoever the driver's sponsor will be, but we're good to go. We're covered for what I've got to do. I know my direction. I know my financial side of it and my team side of it. That's all good. The rest will come appropriately when the people decide what they want to do with that part of it."

HOW CLOSE IS IT TO GETTING EVERYTHING SIGNED? "That's their time. They can take all the time now because we know what we're gonna do. We can focus on building cars and things are great. It's gonna happen. We're gonna go racing. I didn't get that from some fly-by-nighter, these are wonderful people I'm dealing with."

WHEN DID YOU START TALKING WITH THESE PEOPLE? "It doesn't matter. They've been there and they're just a lot of wonderful people. We're good to go. I know what our focus is and we're happy."

ARE YOU GOING TO KEEP ALL YOUR PEOPLE? "I feel very confident that we're gonna keep all the best people we need."