Under the agreement, Yates Racing will operate the No.96 Sprint Cup entry of Hall of Fame Racing for the full 2009 schedule.

Doug Yates and Max Jones will continue as co-owners of Yates Racing, while Tom Garfinkel and Jeff Moorad will remain as co-owners of Hall of Fame Racing.

"This partnership with Hall of Fame is a great stepping stone for the Yates organization," Jones said in a team statement. "Through this partnership, we are able to continue the expansion of our shop and field another Sprint Cup entry. We, along with Ford Racing, welcome Hall of Fame Racing and look forward to a very successful season."

The No.96 team will operate out of the recently-expanded Yates Racing facility in Concord, NC.

"Jeff Moorad and I knew it would take time to construct the right model to improve our competitive position in the sport, and we think we've come a long way to achieving that through our association with Yates Racing," Garfinkel said. "We're proud to be associated with Doug and Max and Ford Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series."

Yates Racing already fields Fords for drivers Travis Kvapil, David Gilliland and Paul Menard.

HOF has operated as a single-car team since 2006. The organization underwent major changes for the 2008 season when Moorad and Garfinkel, top executives with the Arizona Diamondbacks, bought majority interest in the racing team from NFL Hall of Famers Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman.

J.J. Yeley drove the No.96 car for a majority of last season, but HOF released Yeley in August, replacing him with Ken Schrader, Joey Logano and Brad Coleman for the remainder of the year.

No driver for the No.96 this year has been named at this time.