Richard Petty Motorsports lays off majority of employees
Nearly two months after Richard Petty Motorsports and Yates Racing announced they planned to merge their operations, a majority of RPM employees found out what that meant – they were without a job.
Although no one at RPM would confirm the figures, multiple sources said more than 150 employees of a workforce of about 250 were either released Nov. 9-10 or told they would be done after the season ends Nov. 22.
RPM, which fields four teams, and Yates, which fields two, announced in September they planned to merge – and with NASCAR’s four-team limit, the staff reductions were anticipated.
“If we’re going to do what we’re going to do, we’ve got to start somewhere,” team co-owner Richard Petty said Nov. 13. “This is basically where we’re starting.”
Many of those laid off were in the engine shop and the car manufacturing department, sources said. The new organization will use Roush Yates Engines and likely will be based in the current Yates shop in Concord, N.C. – about 45 miles from the current RPM shop in Statesville, N.C.
Yates Racing currently gets its cars from Roush Fenway Racing.
“I think we’re moving there to the [Yates shop near the] airport,” Petty said. “As far as I know. Tune in next week.”
Yates Racing co-owner Max Jones declined to comment on the status of the merger, but Petty said the paperwork is still being completed. He viewed the layoffs as a sign things are progressing.
“[We] have explained to everybody what our situation was,” Petty said. “The majority of people might not like it, but they understand where we’re coming from. It never goes down [easy] when you have to let somebody go. We didn’t let them go because they weren’t doing the job. We just didn’t have a job for them to do.”
RPM driver Kasey Kahne said he has not been to the Yates shop yet and said he has not been part of any Yates-RPM meetings about next year.
“I’ve driven by [the shop] and that’s it,” Kahne said. “As far as next year and testing and all that planning, I don’t know. I know that we’re trying to win races and do everything possible to win, but as of right now, that deal is not done.
“To me, there are still a lot of unknowns. For me to go over there – I doubt that they want me over there, and I don’t know if I should be over there. I don’t drive for them yet. I don’t know how all that’s going to work. I know it’s not done. I know that I’m going to have the same team and that’s all that I can ask for, is sticking with
[crew chief] Kenny Francis and our guys that we have.”
Francis has kept his team focused despite the layoffs, Kahne said.
“[It’s the] same thing that we’ve done all year when anything out of the ordinary happens there,” Kahne said. “They show up – same group of guys – and work hard and do everything they can to give me the best car they can give me.
“As a team, a driver, a crew chief … we can only do the things that can benefit us and help us and that’s to stay focused on doing what we enjoy doing. That’s how our whole team has been so far this weekend. It’s nice to have a group of guys like that.”
