INTERVIEW: J.J. Yeley discusses his early racing career, his thoughts on Kenny Irwin, Jr., and the challenges of driving for an open Cup team

by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

ALL PHOTOS: Brock Beard

On Sunday, prior to the Cup Series Championship race at Phoenix, I caught up with J.J. Yeley, who started 35th and finished 32nd in the NY Racing Team’s #44 Fanatics Sportsbook Chevrolet. Phoenix is Yeley’s home track, and scene of 21 of his 396 career Cup starts.

Good to see you guys in the New York Racing Team coming out here this weekend. How have things progressed so far for you?

“They’ve been okay. You know, obviously this is the 12th or 13th race for New York Racing this year. I think this is my 11th event. So, I think the original goal was to try to do 16, so we obviously didn’t meet that. But the guys worked hard to get this car out here. We were okay in practice. I left a lot on the table qualifying, just not really knowing what to expect. There’s a lot of unknowns coming in today just because the tire, in my own personal perspective. So, we’ll just kind of play it by ear. But the goal is not to finish last and get your award, so go out there and beat some cars and see how it goes.

How did you and team owner John Cohen cross paths?

“It’s been a come and go kind of relationship. I ran for John for a few years. It just turned into a situation where, at the time in my career, there was a lot of ‘start-and-parks.’ It was hard finding rides unless you had sponsorship. And in order to survive in the sport, you have to stay visual. I mean, once you disappear and decide not to come to a race track, or for whatever the reason is, I think it’s easy to be forgotten, because there’s so many guys that want to fight and be at this level. So, you have to continue to fight and do what you have to in order to survive. And I did that for a number of years being a ‘start-and-park’ driver.”

“But as John progressed through his ownership career, from having Busch cars to doing Cup cars and just really trying to survive and break through in the sport, we spent a lot of time together. And then, obviously I went off and did some full-time stuff with BK Racing and Tommy Baldwin when he had his program, and just turned into a situation where I was back out of a ride. And John was in a situation where he needed someone again that had experience, could take care of the equipment. And obviously, we’re friends, so that adds a lot of value to what we get to do here for a small team. So, it's not only necessarily my survival in the sport, but it’s helping a friend and still having fun doing what we get to do, which is coming to the race track and giving it our best.”

Tell me about the challenges of competing with an open team in today’s Cup Series.

“Yeah, definitely. I mean, as an open team compared to any of these Chartered teams now in the Cup side of things, I mean, it’s not even bringing a knife to a gunfight – it’s like bringing a plastic one that's been broke in half. So the level of information and technology in these Cup cars is very high, and it’s the highest it’s ever been in our sport. So having some type of affiliation, being able to get that information, obviously, we’re lucky enough that we do get assistance from Team Chevy, which is a trickle down from Hendrick (Motorsports). We try to do our best to be an asset to them in any way we possibly can.”

“This week, we were okay and close on practice. We worked on some things that were hopefully beneficial for the other side of the guys that wanted to work on some things. So, that’s all we can do to try to make ourselves better. But when it comes to the grand scheme of things, from personnel budgets, equipment, obviously we’re still pretty far behind on that side of things. So, all we can do is give it 100% effort. My goal is to get the most out of the equipment. Jay Guy (crew chief) is a veteran of the sport, he’s gonna make the best educated adjustments that he can. But again, we don’t have a war room of engineers back in North Carolina to help with, running sim and making those changes. So, a majority of what we’re gonna do is come from the seat of my pants and how I can translate to him into hopefully good adjustments.”

Did you ever race with Kenny Irwin, Jr. when you competed in USAC and became a Triple Crown Champion?

“No, Kenny was before my time. Obviously, as a kid, I watched him race Midgets and Sprint Cars and Silver Crown, and when he got his break to come to NASCAR was kind of when I had just started racing Sprint Cars. So, did not spend much time racing against him. Obviously, he was a very talented guy, it’s a shame what happened to him. . .I feel like I’m in a similar category of him, because he was a West Coast guy, you know, he wasn’t a NASCAR good old boy, part of the family. So, he kind of infiltrated and I think that made it a little bit more difficult for him to find that success when he got to the sport. And obviously I’ve been here a long time and very thankful for my decades of being in the sport, but it does make it different, and it does hurt a little bit in the transition of knowing the right people or getting the help that you need just because you’re kind of stuck on an island. So, yeah. . .he was definitely one of those good guys that tried to get the best out of it and always give 100% which is all you can do is race car driver, certainly.”

Did Kenny’s experience of transitioning from USAC to Cup inform your own transition, especially since you both came to the series driving high-pressure rides?

“No, I don’t think it was - I don’t know the pressures that Kenny had when he came into the sport. Obviously, he went to a high-profile team, and a lot was asked of him. And I never felt pressure when I was a Joe Gibbs Racing, so that was always a great thing there. The only pressure that I would have had is what I would have been putting on myself. But obviously it’s easy to look back at opportunities that you had and the things that you wish you could have done differently. I just felt like I was so blessed with the opportunity that I wasn’t more vocal about changes, things that I would like to do different. I was just humble in the experience. And there was a lot of things that I’ve since learned in my years that, again, if I had - not necessarily more of a mentor or mentorship – but if I just would have known more people, had a better relationship within the sport, to try to find a driver that could help me speed up my learning curve.”

“When I started in this sport, it wasn’t the era of sim (racing). You didn’t get to go spend a week and log thousands of laps at a race track that you could at least get the visual side of it and understand the feeling of it. So, everything I had to do was usually the first-time experience and learn on the curve. And obviously my curve was very steep, just jumping straight into a Busch car to ARCA to Cup and doing that all in my first season, and basically being very limited in all my pavement experience. But again, I can sit here and complain about what happened 20 years ago and wish I could have done differently - it doesn’t change where I am right now or the things that I’ve accomplished. So, all I can do, like I said, is just go out there for New York Racing and give them 100% of my talent and what I think I get out of the race car and keep the things safe and clean and see if we get the best finish.”

The NY Racing Team loads up after Sunday’s race.