So I am probably opening myself up here, but I am willing to take the risk.
J.J. Yeley has been complaining a lot lately and from what I have seen on forums and message boards, a lot of people agree with him. This past week he brought his plight to the Arizona Republic saying it was the equipment that affected his performance (this is of course not the first time he has said that).
While I am not going to make a case that Hall of Fame Racing is the pinnacle of performance in this sport, nor do I think the Gibbs deal was all it was cracked up to be, Yeley’s performance issues were his and his alone.
Prior to joining Hall of Fame this season, Yeley spent two years driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup Series. In his two seasons he racked up one top-5 and six top-10s. His average start was 22.3, and average finish was 23.8.
Just to provide some perspective (and to prove he was with one of the best teams in the sport), during the same time period, his teammates Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart scored a combined 11 wins, 46 top-5s and 80 top-10s. Hamlin had an average start of 12.9 and average finish of 13.2, while Stewart had an average start of 17.2 and an average finish of 13.5.
When Yeley was released last season, Kyle Busch took his spot at JGR. With one race to go this season, Busch has eight wins, 17 top-5s, 21 top-10s and an average finish of 12.3.
Yeley on the other hand, with 17 starts in 2008, had one top-5, one top-10, and an average finish of 29.9. His predecessor Tony Raines in comparison had just one top-10 but an average finish of 25.8.
Yeley had his chance with a top team. Not to say he completely blew it, but he certainly wasn’t lighting the world on fire. Look at what Kyle Busch has done with the same team this season.
Yeley makes the argument that he did not have the same expertise and information backing him up at Hall of Fame, which is true, but why, if that was one of the main contributing factors to his success, did he not do any better while he was at JGR?
HOF team owner Tom Garfinkel has said Yeley was released because of performance issues. Yeley’s struggles combined with his failure to qualify for four races would tend to make me think Garfinkel is telling the truth.
As far as I am concerned a driver can only pull the, “it’s the equipment” excuse when he has proven himself elsewhere. Yeley just hasn’t done that (in NASCAR at least). I think, just like any driver, he has potential, but at this point he should maybe set his sights on a lower series. Unless that EBay auction works out for him, I think it’s going to be a while before he is again behind the wheel of a Cup car full time.
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on Nov 12th, 2008 at 7:24 am
I just can’t keep quite about this anymore, ok so yes he has been complaining a lot but can you blame the guy, he got fired via text! how classless is that, but that is besides the point, on to his proformance. When he was at Gibbs interstate batteries wasn’t as big as a sponsor as Home depot or fed ex like his teammates so there wasn’t as much money being put in to his team.
And no matter what anybody says i do not believe that Kyle has everything the same that yeley had, for one it is an entirely different engine package, and for 2 busch has a MUCH bigger sponsor in M&M’s, so that equals more money. i have spoken my 2 cents and i will leave it at that, but you can’t blame everything on him he has always been given the short end of the stick!
on Nov 12th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Diana: First, please don’t take what we wrote as a personal attack on Yeley. We are not questioning him as a person. The problem lies in his performance.
Now, on to whether Yeley was getting equal stuff at Gibbs. The Toyota engine package is good, but it hasn’t been the cure all. Only Kyle Busch has won a lot of races this year with Toyota. Every other Toyota driver has struggled. So we can rule that out.
I know some guys on that 18 team are different from last season, but the main players, including crew chief Steve Addington are the same. So neither has an advantage there.
Next, your argument about sponsorship isn’t entirely true either. While it is known that the Interstate Batteries deal was probably a sub $20 million a year deal, it was nothing to shake a stick at. But the difference between the 18’s deal and the 11 & 20 deals is the associate sponsorship. Fedex and Home Depot spend enough that they don’t sell associate sponsorship on those cars. With the Interstate Batteries deal, Gibbs was allowed to sell associates for the 18. That’s why the 18 has had smaller sponsors like Banquet, DLP, WIX, and MBNA decals on it in the past. So when it all works out, the money per team was the same. J.D. Gibbs addressed this in an article on NASCAR.com in 2007. Check that out here.
I think that JJ is a good guy, and could be a good Cup driver. He has talent and has had a ton of success in open wheel cars. But I think instead of complaining to everyone who will listen about the raw deal he got at Gibbs and Hall of Fame, he needs to focus on advancing his career, securing some sponsorship, and finding a ride. There are people who would kill to get the opportunities that Yeley has gotten in his career. It’s nobody’s fault but his own if he didn’t capitalize on them.
on Nov 12th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Diana, you can be pretty sure that sponsorship money in multi-car operations is allocated to each team on paper only. Sure, each team brings in a specific amount, and when it comes to hiring for a select few high-impact, high-paying positions the team with more money might have the upper hand. But if you go by how any other company in the world operates, a lot of the funds flow into combined company resources - engine program, research and development, over-the-wall training, testing etc. So it is fair to say that JJ Yeley had access to the same resources that the 11 and 20 had.
In the end, a high caliber driver can be the difference, even though sometimes, it might take the driver a couple of stints to figure it out. You can find similar examples at other organizations. At Hendricks, Casey Mears never had the same success as the other three teams, and is parting ways at the end of the season. He has bounced around a bit, and I would think that if he doesn’t find success at RCR, he’ll be in a bad spot. Time will tell if he was just in a place that didn’t mesh with his style, or if he wasn’t able to push the team over the top.
on Nov 12th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Well,
I don’t believe in your comments as well, the guys dove the Gibbs NW cars to 2 Top 10 years and the under funded IB car was crap, why did Bobby leave??? As for Hall of Shame, please they can’t do anything right!!!
on Nov 12th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Here’s my take on JJ Yeley. He has the “potential” to become a top driver, however, as with most everyone, that will take top equipment, lots of sponsorship, and the right personnel to do so. I also believe he was brought along too quickly as is Joey Logano. It seems that Gibbs racing is a leader in this catagory, possibly because Tony is gone. Sorry Joe, but these COT’s are way too difficult to drive to just find a young hotshoe to jump in & floor the gas. Just ask Montoya. They should have gone after an established driver who has a proven record.
on Nov 12th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
T.C., you make a good point. For a young guy trying to make his way, Yeley has to let his performance speak. Whether his equipment isn’t top-level or not is for the other owners to decide. This isn’t their first rodeo and he has to show them he knows it isn’t his either.
One of the ways Yeley could help himself if he gets another ride next season is to go out of his way to ingratiate himself with the sponsors and their families. When he goes from event to event, he could stop in a local branches or clients of his sponsors to say hello and pose for pictures.
That’s how Jay Leno got the Tonight Show. Every stop along his stand-up tour, he would visit the local NBC affiliate and talk to the sales staff, the secretaries, as well as top management. So when NBC wanted to replace Johnny Carson, the affiliates demanded their pal, Jay over the diffident David Letterman who is as shy and private as his mentor, Johnny Carson, was.
Yeley can tip the scales in his favor by being a sponsor and fan favorite. Say only good things about your team. Admit when you’ve made a mistake. Take the extra time and effort to meet the people who make it possible for you to drive every week. Make them your friends. It’s human nature to want to help you. Let them.
It’s not brown-nosing. It’s good business.
Pacific Time Zone Kenny
Alameda, California
on Nov 12th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Yeley had a top 15 car at Pocono and that boy blew it big with only 1 car to beat and he missed the show. Then he should have made that road race and he drove around there like a bus driver. Go look up the practice times and qualifying times. Those cars ain’t very good but they were plenty good enough to qualify and that boy was lsower every time. He should have missed Indy and 2nd Pocono because he choked there to and the team got lucky when someone else choked more. Theyve made every race since they fired him, if they didn’t fire him they would have missed a pile more. He can’t handle the heat in the kitchen.
on Nov 12th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
100% correct.
Accept some blame JJ. The facts are all there.
on Nov 12th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Gamecocks- it seems to me that since yeley was let go there have been A LOT of rain out’s for qualifing, for which the 96 car has benefited a great deal from rain at watkins glen, rain at richmond, rain at New Hampshire, rain at lowes, and rain at martinsville, rain at atlanta, so that is 6 out of the 14 races, just about 1/2. there is no saying if they would have made those races or not, but of the races that they have had to qualify for their efforts have not been much better than yeley’s were.
by what you are saying is that they would have made those 6 and missed the rest? i find that hard to believe. and how do you know he had a top 15 car at pocono? he was only 25th fastest in the practice session.
I am not saying that he has screwed up because i am sure that all drivers have had at one point or another, but i don’t believe that he shouldn’t get another chance for a ride based on this years performance. because a lot of it was beyond his control. and it is not like now that he is out of the car they are winning races or even coming close, even wonder boy joey lagano didn’t want to drive the 96 car anymore.
on Nov 12th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Throw Talladega and Daytona qualifying out the window. You can’t blame him for those= Thats all about car.
JJ has taken the blame many times, but it not fair that you think he should not speak his mind. You don’t want vanilla drivers but when they do say something - you jump all over them.
The cars that Kyle drove were new!! The times that he did drive JJ’s cars- he called them 30th place at best cars and JJ actually finished higher in them. Even Steve Addington said nothing was the same in those cars. JJ drove cars that Bobby Labonte drove and as a championship driver Bobby finished 24th with that 18 team. And you kn0w- when you followed it week to week, there was always a reason. Dover- Broken Shock, then a blown motor etc- I could go on!
At Hall of Fame, JJ started the year out all excited and did well in Practices but then he had how many motors break at Daytona?
Then they had a large piece of debris smash through the grill and because of the night fall- the team never saw it.
They ran him out of gas at another race. The Water Bottle incident. There were many factors and he had some good runs going when disaster struck. (Hornish- Blaney )
I don’t think JJ is trying to make anyone look bad. He’s just trying to explain the situation so people understand and of course he becomes an easy target. One thing I have learned about JJ is that he is honest to the core. His life is an open book and he is not afraid to share what he feels. If he needs to change anything to get along with the fans more- Its to become some fake fraud that all the fans expect of drivers these days.
I hope he gets another chance! He deserves it. He worked hard to learn how to get from Midget and sprint cars to the Cup cars. He started in Arca had a 2nd place finish and got moved up- Went to Trucks one race finished 13th and in the Busch series even though he struggled the first year- they change crew chiefs and he finished 5th in points. He just needed people to believe in him and stick with him. (Gibbs) Hall of fame racing, they would be on Rowdy each week explaining how they were on a budget and they got Budget results. When everyone was out testing, Hall of Fame took the week off. I emailed them to ask why they weren’t and they said that teams need breaks. Well maybe if you have tons of resources but not when you are a single car team. And when they did test- teams had 2 or three cars. HOFR took one car. I think there are many factors and I think they can all take part in the blame.
And also one more thing. JJ said he was told by members of the Gibbs organization that he was getting set ups for a car he did not have. Hmmmm JJ’s fault? Or the whole team for not figuring it out?
When a driver is trying to walk the fine line of helping the team but also understanding that they don’t have big bucks, well JJ was sort of stuck in the middle.
on Nov 12th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Diana- My point was not to say that Yeley does not deserve another shot somewhere. Instead what I am trying to say is, he needs to take responsibility for his performance issues. His equipment at Gibbs was just as good as his teammates (sponsorship dollars for one team at a multi-car operation, no matter how high or low it may be, is not going to have any affect on that teams equipment or personnel). While HOF’s equipment is perhaps not the best, he struggled where others did not.
Yeley certainly has potential. I don’t think anyone would say he doesn’t. But I would agree with some of the posters that he was rushed too soon into his spot at JGR.
on Nov 12th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
He was bad fast at the pocono test. Then was faster than almost all other go or go homers and faster than the slowest go or go homer by 7 tenths in practice at 1st Poconorace with 1 car to beat and missed the race. Then was 14 in practice at 2nd race and qualified 43rd with 1 car to beat and then 39th at Brickyard and got lucky to make it. He had to be fired cause he wasnt gettin it done. They would have been up the creek with Yeley in there and missed more races like california and atlanta and dover. Schrader can handle the heat and gets er done. The rain outs acutally hurt them cause they started on points in the way back and were better than the way back.
Also, you’d have to be a fool to not see they kicked sliced bread out, not other way round. Did you see those races? And he didnt do nothing more at Texas in JGR car but not make minimum speed. And no they ain’t winnin races, but they’ve made 17 in a row which is to say there doin a lot more than when Yeley was there.
It ain’t that Yeley don’t deserve another chance, this is the US of America, everyone deserves another chance. But maybe that boys problem is that he’s blaming everything else instead of looking in the mirror. Too bad he was never in the military cause he wouldn’t be wastin his talent like he has. He didn’t get fired because of JGR or because of the 96 owners not doin what they should or sponsor money or because of his racing or none of that. He choked in qualifying. He ought to own up to that and quit making himself look like sour grapes and quit makin the sport look bad with his ebay stuff which is the laughing stock.
on Nov 12th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
While HOF’s equipment is perhaps not the best, he struggled where others did not.
How can you say that others have not stuggled, since JJ has left Hall of Fame what have their finishes been with Schrader, Papis, Lagano, so on i think there has been maybe 1 top 20 and i don’t think they have ever finished on the lead lap. he has admitted when he made mistakes he does own up when it is his fault, BUT probably about 90% of the time it has not been his fault at least not most this year.
on Nov 12th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
I have been watching JJ for a long time from his teenager days and agree that JJ was put in the 18 car a year early. With that kind of shot you have to be a fool not to take that ride at that time. I do believe that JJ did not do as well as he should have done with with the 18 car and JGR equipment. I have heard that the budget between the two was 6 million a year compared to 20 million a year for Rowdy. He has stated that he didn’t have the same equipment per JGR employees as Busch and Steve has said that lots of things have changed. We all know that Kyle definately stirs up the pot so things have had to change. I think JJ was promised a lot of things and HOF never came through. JJ is not the next Jeff Gordon but i think he can drive better then Mears, Riggs, Sadler etc… You catch my drift here. Bottom line here is it is all about money now. aka… Menard. I wish JJ the best of luck and hope to see him out there next year.
PS: In regards to the comment about “One of the ways Yeley could help himself if he gets another ride next season is to go out of his way to ingratiate himself with the sponsors and their families. ” In my opinion i think you do not know anything about JJ and do not follow him. As I have followed him and know many of his friends from racing i know he signs every autograph and goes out of his way to help others when it comes to his fans. Please visit his website and you will see what i am talking about. Also in regards to the ebay thing. I think everyone is jealous because they never thought of this idea in this tough economy.
on Nov 12th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
JJ comes from the side of the racing tracks where you prep-transport-drive-fix the car and seek funding pretty much as an independant. See my post under the Ganassi-DEI merger, where the Alan Kulwicki’s of today just don’t (cannot) exist. It’ that way in all professional motorsports nowadays. JJ dominated in Sprints and has not suddenly forgotten how to drive. He just needs a good shot and must concentrate on the driving. The results will come in due time!
on Nov 13th, 2008 at 7:38 am
you say that they have made 17 races in a row which ok that is impressive, but again you have to count the rain for 6 of those races, also there has only been 13 races since yeley was let go at watkins glen, so he had made 4 of those 17 races. so what that leaves only 7 races that they have had to qualify for and they mostly have been on cookie cutter tracks!
i am not trying to make anyone mad and i can see all of your points that you are making but i just don’t think that most people are being fair on yeley. you can’t tell me that if (like bill said) that if Joe gibbs came to you and said hey i want you to drive in my cup car you are going to say to him NO i don’t think i am ready. Of course you are going to jump at that opportunity.
on Nov 13th, 2008 at 8:10 am
Good Point Diana,
I would also ad that that team never pulled the belts off or did fancy tricks for qualifying when JJ was in the car. Now they do.
on Nov 13th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Some guys have it, some don’t. I don’t know which side Yeley falls on really. I do know that he needs to look at what happened to Jeremy Mayfield a couple of years ago. Mayfield has talent, but he can’t keep his mouth shut. He talked his way out of his ride at Penske, burned every bridge he had in his split with Evernham, where is he now? If you think that guy at the McDonald’s in North Carolina looks like Jeremy Mayfield it’s probably him. Do you want fries with that?
on Nov 14th, 2008 at 7:52 am
Bill ,
In regards to JJ on ebay he was not the first to try advertising on ebay. Ryan Hackett did it for the first Richmond race in the nationwide series and sold associate sponsorship. I know I tried to win . I was out bid however, I did in turn get associate sponsorship for my business. I have now seen several drivers/ team owners doing this on ebay . As i’m sure it caught some ones eye as his ad was viewed by over ten thousand.
However JJ is the first Ive seen at the cup level on ebay after
Hacketts ad I noticed alot of local dirt track drivers on ebay
on Nov 14th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Well Gamecocks- what do you have to say now that the 96 misses the final race of the year?
on Nov 15th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Sure, the 96 is track filler, but JJ has not demonstrated the ability to put a CUP car in front. Some people should stay in midgets.
on Nov 15th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Thanks James i did not know that it was done by others. I guess what my point was that in this tough time of racing dollars everyone was giving him grief about the eBay thing and in my opinion you have to do what ever it takes to go racing.
on Nov 18th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Yeley is 15 positions worse than everyone else, just peek at these stats. Raines got the 96 in 25th, he put it in 40th. Yeley got the 18 somewhere around 20th and busch would have finished 3rd if not for the chase. The stats are clear!