LATE-RACE PIT STRATEGY FAILS TO WORK FOR J.J. YELEY EN ROUTE TO 22ND PLACE FINISH IN RAIN-DELAYED DAYTONA RUN

A late-race decision to put on just two tires during the team’s final pit stop just did not pan out for driver J.J. Yeley and his #1 Miccosukee Gaming & Resort/Northeastern Supply Company Chevrolet team Saturday morning in the rain-delayed Winn-Dixie 250 NASCAR Busch Series race at the Daytona International Speedway.

The end result was the inability for Yeley to hold off those cars that had changed all four tires over the waning 22 laps and a 22nd place finish in the race that was postponed from Friday night due to rain.

“We gambled and lost,” said Yeley who also admitted that he failed to get the drafting help he needed to contend in the 2007 season’s 19th race.

When the cars driven by rookie Stephen Wallace and David Reutimann came together coming out of the fourth turn and spun down the front stretch on lap 75, Yeley was riding in the 19th position when he came down pit road for his final stop of the race under caution. The decision was made to gain track position by only changing right side tires and Yeley exited the pits in sixth place and with the lead pack of cars.

When the race was re-started with 22 laps to go, Yeley was able to hold his ground pretty well until the car driven by Jamie McMurray collided with the left rear quarter panel of Yeley’s Chevy going down the backstretch sending McMurray’s machine spinning to bring out the race’s fourth caution flag.

The incident killed Yeley’s momentum, and even though he was in eighth place at the time of the incident, the #1 car quickly began dropping back through the field when the race was re-started with 17 laps to go.

Yeley’s car was showing in the 33rd position on lap 94 of the 100-lap race when the race was again slowed by a caution, but in the final five laps of the event, Yeley was able to get on top of the wheel of his race car and managed to forge his way through traffic to improve 11 positions and cross the line in the 22nd position at the checkers.

“Even when I was running well I just could not get any help,” said Yeley, alluding to his inability to get other drivers to line up with him and use the draft to their advantage. “You cannot do anything on these restrictor plate race tracks without some help, and for whatever the reason, no one wanted to run with us today. We should have had a far better finish if the help was there,” Yeley ended. J.J. started the race way back in the 40th position as his team wanted to work on his race set-up rather than one for qualifying speed.

Kyle Busch was able to hold off the last-lap charge by defending Busch Series champion Kevin Harvick to earn the victory. Rounding out the top five finishers were Dave Blaney, Tony Stewart and Clint Bowyer.

Point leader Carl Edwards finished 11th and now maintains a whopping 798 –point advantage over second place Harvick who sits second in points despite starting five less races than Edwards. Yeley improved to 17th in points despite missing two races himself this season including the season-opener in Daytona.

Yeley and his mates will hope for a better fate next Saturday afternoon in Joliet, IL with the running of the USG Durock 300 race at the Chicagoland Speedway. The race is scheduled to take the green flag at 3 p.m. and will be televised live over the ABC-TV network.