J.J. YELEY
NO. 18 HUSQVARNA CHEVROLET
25th POCONO 500 (6/11/06)
POCONO RACEWAY
PRE-RACE NOTES
14th event of the 36-race 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Schedule – Long Pond, Pa.
The No. 18 Chevrolet will be carrying special colors this weekend, featuring a blue and white Husqvarna paint scheme. Sunday’s race will be the second of three events this season in which YELEY will be sponsored by Husqvarna, the Official Lawn and Garden Equipment of NASCAR. The company’s final race of the year will be the Aug. 20 GFS Marketplace 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
YELEY’s streak of 17 consecutive race finishes was snapped last weekend at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. The 42nd-place finish at “The Monster Mile” was his first DNF since September 2004 at California Speedway.
YELEY is in fifth place in the 2006 Raybestos® Rookie standings with 110 points, 33 behind leader Denny Hamlin but just three behind third-place Reed Sorenson.
There have been seven different winners of Pocono’s spring race in the last seven years and YELEY is hoping to keep that string alive by becoming the eighth. Ironically, it was Bobby Labonte’s victory in the No. 18 car that started the streak in 1999.
With his 20th-place finish in the May 28 Coca-Cola 600, YELEY passed the $2 million mark in career Cup Series winnings. The Pocono 500 will be the 20th start of his NASCAR Cup Series career.
Joe Gibbs Racing has four victories at Pocono Raceway, three of which have been posted by the Interstate Batteries Racing team.
Founded in 1952 and based in Dallas, Interstate Batteries has 310 distributors serving more than 200,000 retail outlets. Current annual sales exceed 13 million batteries for automobiles, boats, commercial vehicles, golf cars, motorcycles and more. It has been the primary sponsor on the No. 18 entry since Joe Gibbs Racing debuted in 1992.
