Yeley Storms from the Back to Notch Top-10 Finish at Watkins Glen

Race Review

Watkins Glen, NY (August 14, 2005) - J.J. Yeley stormed from the back of the field to finish 10th at Watkins Glen International on Saturday in his Vigoro Ultra Turf Summer Fertilizer/Home Depot Chevrolet. That result marked Yeley's seventh top-10 finish in his last 10 races and moved him ever closer to the top 10 in the driver standings.

"We didn't have the best of qualifying efforts in the morning, but we overcame our poor starting position by doing nearly everything perfect throughout the race," said Yeley. "I am really proud of Jason Ratcliff and everyone on our Vigoro/Home Depot team. They performed flawlessly today."

Yeley suffered with transmission problems during practice and qualifying, thus the team was only able to qualify 39th for the 82-lap race. The team changed transmissions just prior to the start of the race, but then the actual start was delayed due to a heavy rain shower. After NASCAR deemed the track ready, the field took the green and yellow flags simultaneously at approximately 4:00 PM. After several laps under caution, some moisture continued to weep from the racing surface in Turn 9, and the race was continued under the yellow flag until Lap 17. At that point, the yellow flag was stashed and racing finally got underway.

Knowing they could stop early and then just once more in order to make it the rest of the way on fuel, Ratcliff brought Yeley to the pits on Lap 18 for fuel only. Yeley left the pits and raced back on the track in 35th position. Several cautions were displayed during the opening laps of green-flag racing, and Ratcliff and Yeley elected to stay out and continue to move up the leaderboard. Yeley was all the way up to 16th when another caution flag waved on Lap 42 for oil on the track. Ratcliff calculated they could make it the rest of the way on fuel, so he instructed Yeley to pit for fresh tires and fuel. Many of the leaders stayed out, and Yeley left the pits in 25th.

Once the green flag was displayed again, Yeley did not stay mired in the back of the pack for long. Seemingly passing one car a lap, he drove inside the top 15 on Lap 65. Yeley continued to press on, finally breaking into the top 10 by passing Jamie McMurray on Lap 74. Three laps later the caution flag waved for an accident in Turn 4. Many of the teams knew they were getting low on fuel, so the teams motored around the track cautiously while waiting for the track to clear. When the green flag was displayed for the final time, Yeley held on for 10th and scored his eighth top-10 finish of the season.

Yeley remains 12th in the overall standings, but he is now just 41 points shy of 11th and 110 points behind 10th. The next NASCAR Busch Series race will be on Saturday, August 20th at Michigan International Speedway on TNT. The race will get underway at 3:00 PM EST.