In today's NASCAR, big money is the name of the game. Primary sponsorship for a Cup Series cars usually runs somewhere between $20 and $25 million, not something every company has lying around these days.

Despite that fact, most of the 43 cars in the field each and every week have some form of sponsorship covering their car, taking care of the majority of expenses. One exception to that rule has been Yates Racing.

The Yates team has undergone a major reorganization process following the retirement of team owner Robert Yates. Robert's son, Doug, stepped up and took the reins of his father's company in an attempt to build it up once again.

The biggest hurdle facing this two-car operation has been securing primary sponsorship. After losing Mars Inc. to Joe Gibbs Racing, Yates Racing's No. 28 (which was the No. 88 last season) driven by Travis Kvapil has struggled to secure a steady deal. With the economy in the poor shape it is in and the ever-rising costs associated with fielding a successful Cup Series car, companies willing to cooperate to a long-term deal have been hard to find.

This season, FreeCreditReport.com continued its support of David Gilliland and the No. 38 Ford. Although the deal is not full-time, the company has stepped up and offered support for eleven of the thirteen races already raced so far.

"It's tough at times but everybody at Yates racing has been real supportive and have really given us everything we need to go out and compete each week," Gilliland told HardcoreRaceFans.com, "so that part hasn't been too bad. Obviously it's always in the back of your mind and I have great confidence that both teams will run better once we have a primary sponsorship secured."

This surprise is, running well has not been an issue for either of Doug Yates' cars. Gilliland is currently 23rd in the series standings and has a best finish of 9th at Bristol. At Texas, Phoenix and Talladega, the No. 38 finished consistently in the 15th-position.

For Kvapil, running a primarily white-unsponsored Ford has little effect on his results. Currently 18th in points - just 154 marks out of the top-12 - Kvapil has three top-10s and has been running towards the front for most of the season.

It's always in the back of our mind," Kvapil explained. "Fortunately everybody at Yates Racing has done a great job with providing good cars - new cars - and quality personnel behind us even though the sponsorship issue is there. Ford has really stepped up and helped us with keeping our cars in the wind tunnel and things like that. So really, I don't feel that were at too big of a shortcoming. We have all the tools in place to run competitively, but obviously in the long-haul we need the sponsorship dollars to stay alive."

Yates Racing has been able to put together a hodgepodge of deals this year to keep the No. 28 running up to this point. Seven different primary sponsors have graced the hood of the car including, K&N Filters, Zaxby's, Ford, Northern Tool + Equipment, Discount Tires, Lumber Liquidators and LaFayette Ford. When there is no sponsorship on the car, the No. 28 runs a plain white paint scheme with "SponsorYates.com" down the quarter-panels trying to attract deals.

In a throw-back type of deal, LaFayette Ford was the primary sponsor for the No. 28 at Darlington Raceway. The deal was put together with the help of Ford and was a tribute to NASCAR legend Fred Lorenzen. Although it was just a one-time deal, Kvapil described it as, "a good fit," but did not foresee a time in the future when the manufacture became the main support system as they had in the past. The driver of the No. 28 explained Ford has been a major help to the team in the early part of the team, however "they don't have the money to throw at us to keep us racing."

"It's really hard to put a sponsorship package together in the middle of the season," Kvapil pointed out. The Wisconsin-native explained many teams and companies are at the point in the season in which they are re-evaluating their budgets and trying to figure out where they would like to be for next season. "Hopefully, in the next couple of months we get something locked down for next year. In the mean time  keep running strong and competitively and keep putting deals together like we have, a couple races herewith different sponsors and hopefully we keep performing well and it will all take care of itself."

Both drivers agree, the sponsorship issue is constantly in the back of their minds, but that has not shown on the track. "Overall, our performance has definitely been up and now we're selling what we've shown we can do," Gilliland pointed out.

"It's in our hands to go out there and run good and run competitively and attract [attention] the rest of the season," Kvapil explained, "and I think we're doing that."