The team took on an unknown rookie, David Gilliland, who made a name for himself by winning a Busch race at Kentucky with an unsponsored, part-time team. The other ride was filled by a cast of drivers last season – Ricky Rudd, mainly, with support from Kenny and Mike Wallace. This year, the team settled on Travis Kvapil.

Gilliland’s car now has sponsorship, from FreeCreditReports.com. Kvapil’s team is still in search of sponsorship. They’re as much an underdog every week as a two-car team can be.

But look at the standings: Kvapil is 19th, Gilliland is 20th. That’s still pretty far away from Chase territory, but both Yates drivers are ahead of Matt Kenseth, Casey Mears, Kurt Busch, Sadler and Jamie McMurray (despite his recent upswing).

That both men are in the top 20 in points is nothing short of impressive.

Granted, Yates is getting an awful lot of help from Roush Fenway, the only other multi-car team in the Ford camp. The two have a combined engine shop, and Roush is lending support to find sponsors as well.

But that shouldn’t detract from what Kvapil and Gilliland have done.

Heading to Richmond, Gilliland had a streak of four top-15 finishes in five races. He would’ve had a chance to extend that streak were he not one of the drivers involved in the big Turn 3 wreck. His car took almost as much damage as Patrick Carpentier’s; it sat, turned around, against the wall leaking all manner of fluids onto the track. His night was finished; he came in 41st.

Kvapil really opened some eyes with a sixth at Talladega. But he also had a top-10 finish at Las Vegas (eighth), and his lowest finish in the past five races was 22nd.

Perhaps those numbers don’t sound great. But don’t put the same level of expectation on Kvapil and Gilliland that you might put on Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Kyle Busch or Jeff Burton.

What the two of them, Yates and their teams have done is impressive, indeed.

• UPDATED to add a photo. That’s all.

(Photo by John Raoux/Associated Press)