There are more than driver and crew changes at Yates Racing for 2008.

This marks the year Doug Yates heads the company his father started. However, the younger Yates, who oversaw the engine department, has some help in the form of Max Jones as they lead an organization that employees more than 150 people.

While Yates grew up with this team, Jones came to it by way of Roush Racing. But before he was general manager he was a SCCA Trans Am driver, hired in 1990 to drive one of the Roush Ford Mustangs. After a couple years he transitioned to the general manager position for Roush's IMSA and Trans Am teams. After four championships the programs were suspended so Jones began to focus on Roush's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in '96. After a championship to his credit he moved to the Indy Racing League for a couple years, then returned to oversee Roush's Truck and Busch entries.

Yates Racing traces its beginning to 1988 when team manager Robert Yates purchased the team from Harry Ranier. The team compiled an impressive list of accomplishments ever since Davey Allison got behind the wheel for the team's first full season in '89. Allison provided the new team its first win at Talladega.

The team has 57 wins in NASCAR's elite division, including Dale Jarrett's win at Talladega Superspeedway in the Ford 500 in '05. That win continued the team's streak of winning at least one Cup race since its first season in '89. Almost as impressive is the fact that Yates teams have finished in the top 10 nearly 50 percent of the time in more than 750 races.

During that time veteran drivers including Ernie Irvan, Rudd and Jarrett have driven the cars, but opportunities have also been given to younger competitors including Allison, Kenny Irwin Jr. and Elliott Sadler.

In '96 the decision was made to join the growing trend of multi-car operations by starting a second team. Jarrett, who had been filling in for an injured Irvan the previous year, was tapped to drive the new car and that decision paid off handsomely.

Jarrett and then-crew chief Todd Parrott did something that is still talked about today as they won the '96 Daytona 500 in their very first race together. That was an omen of things to come as the team posted three straight top-three points finishes before winning the NASCAR Winston Cup championship in '99.