J.J. Yeley - Circuit City 250 Pre-Race Notes and Quotes

Event: Circuit City 250
Date: May 5, 2006
Track: Richmond International Raceway
Laps/Miles: 250 / 187.5
TV: FX 7:30 PM EST
Radio: MRN 7:30 PM EST

DID YOU KNOW?

* Friday’s NASCAR Busch Series race at Richmond will mark J.J. Yeley’s fifth ever Busch Series start on the 0.75-mile oval.

* In J.J. Yeley’s four previous visits to Richmond, he has endured several tough outings. In 2004 Yeley finished 23rd and 15th in his two starts at RIR, and in 2005 Yeley finished 24th and 19th.

* Last week at Talladega, J.J. Yeley scored his second Busch Series Pole Award of his career and his second pole for 2006. Yeley’s two poles tie him with teammate Denny Hamlin for the series lead in pole positions for 2006.

* After winning the pole last week at Talladega, J.J. Yeley got spun from behind by a fellow competitor and was scored in the 34th position at the checkered flag. The finish was Yeley’s second DNF of the year.

* J.J. Yeley is currently fifth in the NASCAR Busch Series standings. He is just 23 markers out of fourth (Hamlin), 43 points behind third (Carl Edwards) and 116 behind second (Clint Bowyer). Series leader Kevin Harvick leads Yeley by 390 points.

* Joe Gibbs Racing will take Chassis #1850 to Richmond as its primary car. This will be the second race in 2006 for this particular car, as J.J. Yeley qualified sixth and finished 11th at Phoenix with this Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS. Last year Yeley raced this chassis four times, scoring three top-10 finishes, including a career-best second place effort at Memphis in October.

QUOTES

Driver J.J. Yeley on racing at Richmond - “I haven’t enjoyed a ton of success in a stock car at Richmond, but we have always had fast cars. I’ve been caught up in a couple of accidents, and that has hurt us some. But we had a fantastic test here at Richmond last month in both the Busch car and the Cup car, so I’m very excited about the entire weekend. This racetrack generally provides some of the best racing of the entire year. It’s a short-track, and we race under the lights, so that brings the excitement level up a notch. And we can race in two different grooves at Richmond, so it just makes for a fun race to drive and a fun race for the fans to watch.”