Yeley deserves another season

J.J. Yeley could be out of the Sprint Cup after a rough season this year. Getty Images

A.J. Allmendinger's timing couldn't have been better. He finished a career-best ninth at Kansas in his final race for Red Bull Racing before being released and that turned him into a hot property in the late-season Sprint Cup driver market. Allmendinger found a job quickly, driving for Michael Waltrip Racing last Sunday at Lowe's and signing with Gillett Evernham Racing's No. 10 for the five remaining races, starting Sunday at Martinsville.

This is the same driver who failed in qualifying in the opening three races of this season and was benched for five races, replaced by Mike Skinner. If Allmendinger had been released at that juncture, it's doubtful any Cup team would have come calling. Skinner helped turn the No. 84 team around and Allmendinger returned to make 21 straight races. He began to attract attention by finishing 12th at Pocono I, 13th at Chicagoland, 10th at Indianapolis, 11th at Watkins Glen and 14th at the Auto Club Speedway in California. Kansas became the perfect jumping-off point to head into unemployment.

J.J. Yeley stands in black-and-white contrast to Allmendinger. The timing of his release after Pocono II, the 21st race of the season, by Hall of Fame Racing, couldn't have been worse. Yeley had a miserable start in his first year with HoF, falling out of the top 35 in the points after eight races. Forced to qualify for a struggling one-car team, Yeley missed four of the next 13 races and was released. He hasn't found employment, sitting out the last 10 races.

This is the same driver who finished 21st in the points last year, ahead of Reed Sorenson, David Ragan, David Stremme and Elliott Sadler. Stremme has sat out all but one race of this season, working as a test driver for Penske Racing, and has signed with Penske for next year. Sorenson is moving from Ganassi Racing to Gillett Evernham with a new contract. Ragan has emerged as a Chase contender with Roush Fenway Racing and Sadler has a new deal with Gillett Evernham for next season.

Yeley would like to forget this season ever happened. He'd like team owners to forget it, too, and focus on his previous two full Cup campaigns with Joe Gibbs Racing and his Nationwide season in 2006.

"They need to look at the numbers," Yeley said. "Our program at Gibbs got dramatically better from the first year to the second. I got smarter, quit putting myself into bad positions. When I drove in the Nationwide Series in 2006, we were fifth in the points and we were up there racing with Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch every race and they're all in the Chase. I think I showed that with comparable equipment, I can drive at that level."

Yeley had the same good Gibbs' equipment as teammates Tony Stewart and Hamlin in Cup last year and they both made the Chase. Yeley and Hamlin arrived in Cup at the same time and his performance was often compared to Hamlin. It was unfair. Yeley has only been driving stock cars since 2004. His background was USAC's Sprint, Midget and Silver Crown cars, where he was a record-setting superstar. Hamlin came out of late models and had been racing some form of stock cars for a decade.

Busch's arrival to Gibbs, which had sponsorship for three cars, forced Yeley out of Gibbs. He had several offers and decided to sign a multi-year agreement with HoF, which leases its cars and engines from Gibbs and also receives technical help.

Yeley thought the transition from Gibbs to HoF would be smooth and he'd have access to reliable information. It turned out to be a rough ride. He also says HoF promised to make changes to the team and they were never made.

"There were relationship problems with Gibbs racing and they still have some of those problems," Yeley said. "I thought we'd have everything we needed and we didn't. We didn't even have the same chassis as Gibbs for the first six races and maybe longer. Our management and owners didn't now it. I still have friends at Gibbs and they told me it wasn't the same chassis.

"We didn't have a lot of the same components, important stuff like the suspension and steering and front sway bar."

Gibbs shared information, but it was coming from a different car. "It didn't transfer 100 percent," Yeley said.

On the HoF side, Yeley says the new people that they needed never materialized. HoF did change the crew chief prior to the sixth race at Martinsville, elevating Steve Boyer and firing Brandon Thomas.

"When I was going to HoF, I had a list of eight positions I wanted hired and improved upon, and five races into the season, the only change had been the driver."

Yeley says HoF was making progress before he was fired.

"We started running better as our relationship with Gibbs got better," Yeley explained. "I was disappointed and surprised when I was released. They told me it was a performance issue, and we were running the best we had all year."

Yeley was 36th in the driver points and HoF was 38th in the owner points when he departed. The team has used P.J. Jones and Brad Coleman for one race each, Joey Logano for two and Ken Schrader for six since then. It is 39th in the owner points.

"Hall of Fame hasn't run better since I left," Yeley said. "Look at California. When I drove there in February, we had a horrible car and I finished 29th, two laps down. Ken Schrader was 41st and three laps down in September and didn't have any problems. He can drive the car when it's right. I was running between 24th and 26th at Michigan [in June] when the engine blew up halfway through the race. Coleman didn't have any problems and he was 38th, three laps down in August."

Yeley would welcome the opportunity to return to Cup this season. He tried to get into MWR's No. 00 for Martinsville, but the team hired Mike Bliss.

"He had a little sponsorship and he won," Yeley said.

Yeley has spoken with Chip Ganassi about the No. 41 being vacated by Sorenson at the end of the season. It's the only fully funded car left in the Cup garage.

"Chip hasn't said no," Yeley said. "My name is still on the list. It would be a great opportunity."

Allmendinger's name has been linked to that seat, too.

Other seats with established teams are available, but they need funding and a driver with some of it will have an edge. Yeley is working with a marketing company to bring something to the table if he doesn't land the job at Ganassi.

"I've had lots of discussions with a lot of teams," Yeley said. "If you can bring a little bit of money, they can bring the rest. It puts you at the front of the line."

Yeley is determined to get another shot at Cup.

"I want to race at the highest level," Yeley said. "I'd love to do Cup. If I can't, then I'll look at Nationwide and [Craftsman] Trucks."

Yeley deserves another chance at Cup. He's 32 and his best years are ahead of him. One bad season should define him.