Tough Day at the Office for J.J. Yeley in Texas

Race Review

Justin, TX (November 5, 2005) - J.J. Yeley started 13th and finished 25th and endured a tough day of racing at Texas Motor Speedway during Saturday's NASCAR Busch Series race. While running near the top 10 in the late stages of the race, Yeley was shoved into the Turn 2 wall by a lapped competitor, ending Yeley's hopes of a top-10 finish.

"We ran inside the top 10 for the first half of the race, but our car was very tight, and we fell back a little bit," Yeley explained. "When you put yourself in the back like that, crazy things can happen, and they did. A lapped car was racing me entirely too hard, so I can only guess that he thought we were racing for position. The damage from the contact with the wall knocked our alignment out, and we just had to ride it out to the end."

Yeley's race started well as he immediately moved up from his 13th starting position and into the top 10 on the opening circuit of the 200-lap event. But after only a few laps, he reported to crew chief Jason Ratcliff, "We are super tight everywhere, especially in the center of the corners and on exit." Yeley fell back to 13th when the day's first caution was displayed on Lap 16. Ratcliff instructed Yeley to pit with the rest of the leaders, and the Vigoro / Home Depot team changed only right-side tires, added fuel, and made a trackbar adjustment. Yeley left the pits in fifth.

When the race resumed, Yeley had some difficulty maintaining his position, but he managed to stay inside the top 10 until Lap 60. David Green shuffled Yeley back to 11th, and then Clint Bowyer passed Yeley on Lap 72 to slide Yeley back to 12th. Scheduled green-flag pit stops started on Lap 81, and Yeley came to pit lane on Lap 84 for four fresh tires, fuel, a wedge adjustment, and the team took a rubber out of the left-rear spring. Once the pit stops had cycled all the way through the field, Yeley was 15th with 19 cars on the lead lap.

A timely caution on Lap 105 gave the leaders an opportunity to pit once again for routine service, and Yeley followed the lead-lap cars to pit lane. The Vigoro / Home Depot team changed all four tires once again, added fuel, and made another trackbar adjustment. Yeley left the pits in 17th.

The green flag was flying on Lap 109, and four laps later a lapped machine (34 car) raced Yeley hard and forced him into the wall. The incident brought out the caution flag, and Yeley pitted so the Vigoro / Home Depot team could assess the damage to their Chevrolet. The prognosis was not good as the right-front fender was caved in on the right-front tire, and the steering was knocked out of alignment. Once the race was back underway, Yeley was no match for the leaders, and he was lapped on Lap 148 by Kasey Kahne.

Yeley brought his Vigoro/ Home Depot car home in 25th place, one lap down to race winner Kevin Harvick. The result shuffled Yeley down one position in the overall standings to 12th, but he is just 68 points shy of 10th with two races remaining.

The next scheduled NASCAR Busch Series race is in Yeley's hometown of Phoenix, Arizona. Green-flag action will take place on Saturday, November 12, at 3:30 PM EST on TNT.