ENDS J.J. YELEY’S 2007 SEASON ON A LOW NOTE AND A 40TH PLACE FINISH

On lap 20 of Saturday's Ford 300 NASCAR Busch Series race at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in South Florida, J.J. Yeley pitted his #1 Miccosukee Resort & Gaming/Northeastern Supply Chevrolet early in an attempt to gain an advantage over the competition. Just six laps later, that strategy went up in smoke to end the 2007 Busch Series season on a sour note.

Re-starting the 35th and final race on the 2007 schedule in the 31st position after making that pit stop, Yeley was the race car in the middle as he battled with rookies Richard Johns and Steven Wallace for position heading into the third turn on the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami track.

Yeley's Chevrolet was the car in the middle when his #1 machine got loose, slid slightly up the race track and clipped Johns' Ford in the left rear sending both cars spinning. Yeley's car slammed into the outside retaining wall putting it in the garage area for the night while Johns was able to continue in finishing 35th, 48 laps behind race winner Jeff Burton.

"I had fresh tires because of the pit stop we made and was just racing for position," was Yeley's explanation of the incident. "I don't know if the air was taken off my spoiler or what, but my car just slid up the track slightly and you saw what happened as a result. It's a tough way to finish the season for these Phoenix Racing guys and our sponsors," Yeley added.

Yeley was credited with a disappointing 40th place finish in a car that started the race in the 16th position and had been no worse than 18th when he made his pit stop.

"We were looking for some kind of advantage, and pitting when we did to top off our fuel tank and put on some fresh tires could have given us that edge had we not had that wreck. We could have stayed out on the race track and forced the leaders to pit under green later in the race that would have put us up in the front and in a position to contend. Unfortunately, that didn't happen," said Yeley, who ended the season 17th in the championship driver point's standing with starts in only 30 of the season's 35 races.

The #1 Chevrolet owned by Phoenix Racing boss James Finch finished the season with the 26th highest point total amongst owners, a title that was clinched in Saturday's race by Burton's owner, Richard Childress Racing, for the second time ever by an owner whose driver failed to win the driving crown. Burton beat veteran and close friend Mark Martin to Saturday's checkers for the win with Matt Kenseth, Edwards and Stephen Leicht rounding out the top five finishers.

Carl Edwards clinched the 26th and final NASCAR Busch Series driving title two weeks ago after dominating the season. Nationwide Insurance takes over as the Series' title sponsor beginning in 2008.

Finch also announced that current NASCAR Nextel Cup Series driver and former Busch Series standout Johnny Sauter will drive the #1 Miccosukee Resort & Gaming Chevrolet next season when the team will also switch to Hendrick Motorsports power plants after running this year with power provided by Carl Wagner Engineering.