J.J. YELEY
NO. 18 INTERSTATE BATTERIES CHEVROLET
MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
PRE-RACE NOTES
15th event of the 36-race 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Schedule – Brooklyn, Mich.
After two straight weekends with special colors on the No. 18 Chevrolet, J.J. YELEY will return to his more familiar green and black Interstate Batteries paint scheme for the 3M Performance 400. This will be YELEY’s second visit to the two-mile MIS oval. His only other start came in last summer’s Busch Series race, in which he finished fifth.
YELEY will be doing double duty at two different tracks for the second week in a row. Last weekend, he finished 15th in the Cup Series race at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway and placed 16th in the Busch Series event at Nashville, Tenn. In addition to this Sunday’s race in Michigan, YELEY will compete Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway.
YELEY has moved up to third place in the 2006 Raybestos® Rookie standings with 120 points, 44 behind leader Denny Hamlin but just 18 behind second-place Clint Bowyer.
There have been 11 different winners of Michigan’s spring race in the last 11 years and YELEY is hoping to keep that string alive by becoming the 12th. Ironically, it was Bobby Labonte’s victory in the No. 18 car that started the streak in 1995.
With his 20th-place finish in the May 28 Coca-Cola 600, YELEY passed the $2 million mark in career Cup Series winnings. The 3M Performance 400 will be the 21st start of his career.
Joe Gibbs Racing has four victories at Michigan International Speedway, three of which have been posted by the Interstate Batteries Racing team.
