J.J. Yeley - Texas Pre-Race Notes

* 34th event of the 36-race 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Schedule – Fort Worth, Texas

* NO. 2 AT TEXAS – This year’s first Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway on April 9 featured the best start of the season for J.J. YELEY. He qualified on the front row alongside pole-sitter Kasey Kahne. While chasing a top-10 finish some 200 miles from the end of the race, however, YELEY crashed hard and finished 35th.

* YELEY has five career starts on the 1.5-mile oval at TMS, including his lone Cup Series outing earlier this year. His best finish is 22nd in the Busch Series race run in April 2005.

* There have been 11 different winners of the Cup Series races at Texas Motor Speedway since the track opened in 1997. YELEY is hoping to become the 12th.

* Interstate Batteries was the title sponsor of the first race at TMS, which was run on April 6, 1997. Terry Labonte led the most laps en route to a fourth-place finish. Bobby Labonte placed one position higher in the No. 18 car and Jeff Burton won the race.

* YELEY holds fifth place in the 2006 Raybestos® Rookie standings with 184 points, nine behind fourth-place Martin Truex Jr. and 11 behind third-place Reed Sorenson. Denny Hamlin, YELEY’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, enjoys a commanding lead with just three races left.

* Joe Gibbs Racing is seeking its first victory at Texas Motor Speedway. In fact, Chevrolet drivers have just two TMS wins in 10 years: Terry Labonte in 1999 and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2000.

* YELEY has led laps in seven races this season, including a stretch of four straight earlier in the year. That’s the third-highest total among all 2006 Raybestos® Rookie contenders, behind Hamlin (who has led in 14 races) and Sorenson (eight).

* With his 32nd-place finish in the Oct. 8 UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, YELEY passed the $4 million mark in career Cup Series winnings. It was his 36th start.