Runner-up Finish at Kentucky a Tough Pill to Swallow for J.J. Yeley

Event: Meijer 300
Date: June 17, 2006
Start: 10th
Finish: 2nd

Race Review

Sparta, KY (June 18, 2006) – After building a five-second lead with just 20 laps remaining, only a set of several unfortunate circumstances could have possible taken J.J. Yeley’s first NASCAR victory away from him. After a round of pit stops under the caution at Lap 133, Yeley left the pits with the lead and took the green flag at Lap 138. As soon as the race resumed, Yeley stormed out to a huge lead. At Lap 160 his lead over second place was 3.3 seconds. Seven laps later his lead was 4.2 seconds. At Lap 171 Yeley’s lead had leveled out at five seconds. “I’m just cruising, trying to take care of the car,” Yeley explained. Then on Lap 182, the caution was displayed as the No. 43 car spun on the backstretch.

Had the race remained green, Yeley would have easily driven his Vigoro / Home Depot Chevrolet to victory lane. But now he was going to face a group of hungry drivers, including David Gilliland, teammate Denny Hamlin, and Mike Wallace. The race resumed on Lap 187, and the lapped car of Clint Bowyer raced Yeley extremely hard in Turn 1 and 2. The incident forced Yeley up in the groove and allowed Gilliland to make a run on him going down the backstretch. As they entered Turn 3, Gilliland rubbed Yeley’s left-rear quarter panel and made the pass.

A very disappointed Yeley was forced to settle for a second-place finish. “I'm a little disappointed,” said Yeley after the race. “Obviously he (Bowyer) had a good racecar. He got caught down a lap by pitting a little bit too early before a caution came out. I guess it's just respect - he might have been upset and wanted to go out there and prove that he had a fast racecar," explained Yeley.

"At the same time, he got real close to the left-rear quarter panel, got me a little bit loose, got me up the racetrack and that allowed David to get a run on me. I think if he would have passed me a little easier, not got me free, I would have had a better chance of holding off David."

“But take nothing away from David and everyone on that team. They had a fast car tonight and they deserve a win. I just know we deserved this victory, too.”

Yeley’s eventful night was interesting right from the beginning of the 200-lap event. After starting 10th and moving up to eighth by Lap 6, Yeley attempted to pass rookie Steve Wallace several times. Yeley would get his fender underneath Wallace, but each time Wallace would come down and crowd Yeley’s fender. Finally on his third attempt to make the pass, Wallace’s car drove down across Yeley’s right-front fender, causing significant damage.

Yeley was forced to pit to fix the damage to his wrinkled fender. Once he went back on the track, he was mired all the way back in 39th place. But Yeley simply was not going to back down, and he made several breathtaking passes en route to moving back inside the top 10 at Lap 55.

Needing the track position to get out front, crew chief Jason Ratcliff made a great call to take fuel only during the caution on Lap 133, enabling Yeley to restart with the lead. From there the rest is history.

Even with Yeley’s runner-up finish, he was unable to improve his position in the overall driver’s standings (sixth), but he did manage to slice into the deficit between him and the leaders. Yeley is now just five points behind fifth-place Greg Biffle, 95 markers behind fourth-place Clint Bowyer and 98 points behind teammate and third-place Denny Hamlin.

Yeley and his Vigoro / Home Depot teammates will try to get their first victory again next weekend at the Milwaukee Mile on Saturday, June 24. The race will be televised live on FX at 8:00 PM EST.