It was June 2002 the first time we encountered J.J. Yeley. He was in the middle of a hot streak, winning races during the Buckeye Nationals.
Having won the previous night at Fremont Speedway, Yeley was preparing for competition at Limaland Motorsports Park. But he was preparing differently than most of the other drivers.
The Arizona native had a wrench in his hands and he was massaging the pieces and parts on the baby blue No. 76 that he drove to victory later that night.
That hot streak during the Buckeye Nationals helped Yeley win a job driving for Tony Stewart the following year. The rest is history. Yeley won a USAC record 24 features in 2003 and became only the second (Stewart) driver to win three USAC National titles in the same season.
From there Yeley signed with Joe Gibbs Racing and after two years in the Busch Series, moved to the Nextel Cup Series in 2006. His stock-car racing career has been a disappointment to many, including Yeley.
Now, he’s starting over. Gibbs hired Kyle Busch to replace Yeley for next season, leaving Yeley looking for a new ride.
Ranking 20th in the standings, but overshadowed by his more successful teammates Stewart and Denny Hamlin, Yeley still had options. He spoke with many teams, including Robert Yates Racing and Richard Childress Racing, but in the end elected to return to his roots in a sense, choosing a smaller team — Hall of Fame Racing.
Yeley will not have to turn the wrenches himself, but he will clearly be the focus of the entire operation and that was something that had Yeley smiling following the announcement.
“This is a one car team. They do not have the resources other teams do,” he said. “They do get parts from Joe Gibbs Racing, so everything should be very familiar to me. You can’t put yourself too far behind at the beginning of the season. This team is very solidly in the top 35 in points, which helps.”
Yeley said one of the factors in choosing Hall of Fame Racing was: “I don’t want to get lost in the shuffle as the fourth car” at a bigger team. He likes the idea of being the team’s full focus.
“I’m the one driving this race car,” he said. “I do not have a teammate to drive this race car, so I can’t use the notes from some other driver because, frankly, I am not that driver. We need to do what it takes to make me go fast.”
Yeley acknowledged he hasn’t had the success that he would have liked in his time at Joe Gibbs Racing, but when talking with him it’s easy to get the feeling he feels like he was a cog in a great big wheel at JGR.
“I don’t think I have been doing anything wrong the past two years driving the Interstate Batteries No. 18 car. I think it has come down to chemistry,” Yeley said. “I love Steve Addington to death. I think he is a great crew chief. He just may not be a great crew chief for me.”
Yeley believes he’ll have greater opportunity to find the chemistry he’s looking for at Hall of Fame Racing.
“I think we are more open to making changes here if need be, to put a lot more effort behind me versus the situation that I have been in the last two years,” he said.
Asked if he could have demanded a crew chief change at JGR, Yeley replied, “I could have said that, but I am not that kind of person where I am going to complain. I guess some drivers do that.”
Instead, Yeley is doing things his way. It’s a way that’s worked for him in the past.
“I’m really focusing on turning my career around and trying to win races,” Yeley said. “This is the place where I am going to be most comfortable for my career.”