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J. J. Yeley
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Christopher Beltram Hernandez Yeley (born October 5, 1976) is a NASCAR racecar driver from Phoenix, Arizona. He is currently a free agent.
y initially made a mark for himself in the world of auto racing when he took the Hoosier state by storm during the 1997 edition of Indiana Sprintweek.
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Christopher Beltram Hernandez Yeley (born October 5, 1976) is a NASCAR racecar driver from Phoenix, Arizona. He is currently a free agent.
Open wheel
Yeley initially made a mark for himself in the world of auto racing when he took the Hoosier state by storm during the 1997 edition of Indiana Sprintweek. He won that series and captured the Rookie of the Year Award in the USAC National Sprint Car Series despite starting relatively few races.
In 1998, Yeley competed in four Indy Racing League (IRL) races, including the Indianapolis 500. His one top-10 finish in these four races was at Indianapolis, where he finished 9th despite a spin on the first turn of the first lap, which nearly collected eventual race winner Eddie Cheever, Jr.
Yeley also raced in the IRL in 2000 in an underfunded effort with McCormack Motorsports, but ultimately returned to USAC racing, picking up where he had left off by winning the 2001 and 2003 National Sprint, 2002 and 2003 Silver Crown, and 2003 National Midget Series titles.
His championships in all three of USAC's top divisions in 2003 made him only the second driver, after Tony Stewart in 1995, to achieve the "Triple Crown" in a single season. Stewart was, in fact, the owner of the Sprint and Silver Crown cars in Yeley's 2003 season; the Midget which Yeley drove in 2003, Steve Lewis' #9, had been driven by Stewart in 1995.
Yeley scored 24 USAC wins in his 2003 season, breaking the previous record of 19 set by A.J. Foyt in 1961 and later tied by Sleepy Tripp (1988) and Jay Drake (2000).
NASCAR
As had Stewart, Yeley also signed with Joe Gibbs Racing, starting 17 of 34 races in the 2004 NASCAR Busch Series and achieving four top-10 finishes. In that year, he also made two starts in the NEXTEL Cup #11 car and competed in the IROC series. Yeley drove the full season in 2005 in the NASCAR Busch Series for Gibbs' #18 car, posting twelve top-ten finishes and ending the season 11th in points.After the departure of Jason Leffler, who drove the #11 car in the Nextel Cup series, Yeley, Busch Series teammate Denny Hamlin, and Terry Labonte split the remaining races. Yeley drove four races, Labonte and Hamlin drove the final seven. Hamlin was named to drive the #11 FedEx car for the 2006 season. Bobby Labonte made his announcement in November that he was leaving Joe Gibbs Racing. On November 12, at Phoenix International Raceway, Yeley was announced as the new driver for the #18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet.
Yeley ran full seasons with Joe Gibbs Racing in both the NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series in 2006. He drove the #18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet in the NEXTEL Cup series, and the #18 Vigoro/Home Depot Chevrolet in the Busch Series. Yeley's best NEXTEL Cup finishes of 2006 came at California Speedway and Loudon, where he finished 8th; his best Busch Series finish came on June 17 at Kentucky Speedway. Yeley finished his 2006 season fifth in the Busch Series points standings with three poles, nine top-fives, and 22 top-10s. To date, JJ's best finish of his Nextel Cup career came in May 2007 at Lowe's Motor Speedway where he finished second.
His 2007 was filled with rumors about being released from Joe Gibbs racing. At the 2007 Coca-Cola 600, Yeley scored a career high second place finish on a fuel gamble, losing only to Casey Mears. Exactly three weeks later, at Michigan, Yeley took his first career pole at the NEXTEL Cup level, beating Jimmie Johnson by one one thousandths of a second (.001). During the middle of the 2007 season Joe Gibbs announced that his team would be switching to Toyota in 2008. Gibbs also announced that Yeley would not return for 2008. Gibbs ended up signing Kyle Busch to drive the #18.
Yeley moved to Hall of Fame Racing, an affiliate of JGR, replacing Tony Raines in the #96 DLP Toyota. His struggles continued, as the team fell from being in the top 35 every week with Raines behind the wheel to struggling to make races on a weekly basis (the team's first DNQ came with Yeley behind the wheel).
On July 5, he performed an in-race switch into the #20 car for an ill Tony Stewart. He ran strong for most of the race but was collected in two crashes within the last five laps, one of which he triggered, and ended with a 20th place finish. On August 6, 2008, Yeley was released from his contract to drive for Hall of Fame Racing, first by being replaced by P.J. Jones at Watkins Glen, Nationwide Series driver and Hall of Fame Racing test driver Brad Coleman at Michigan, and Ken Schrader for the remaining races. Yeley is the fourth driver to lose a ride since the beginning of the season, joining Jacques Villeneuve, Dario Franchitti, and Jeremy Mayfield.
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