O’REILLY: J.J. Yeley’s 400th series start ends with early trip to Nashville garage
by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
PHOTO: Steven Taranto, @STaranto92
J.J. Yeley picked up the 15th last-place finish of his NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series career in Saturday’s Sports Illustrated Resorts 250 at the Nashville Superspeedway when his unsponsored #38 Ford fell out with rear gear trouble after 59 of 188 laps.
The finish, which came in Yeley’s 400th series start, was his first of the season and first in an O’Reilly race since April 27, 2024 at Dover, 72 races ago. In the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 24th for the #38, the 32nd from rear end issues, and the 179th for Ford. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 64th for the #38, the 109th from the rear end, and the 1,096th for Ford.
Coming into the 2026 season, the veteran Yeley remains a part-timer in both the Cup Series and the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. This past February, he rebounded from a DNQ in the Daytona 500 to make the next round in Atlanta for the NY Racing Team, only for a late-race crash to leave him 31st. His first O’Reilly start of the year came for Randy Young in COTA, where illness led to relief driver Brad Perez steering the #42 DuraMAX Chevrolet to 28th-place finish. He then landed at Hettinger Racing, one of the few Ford teams left in the series, where he improved nearly each week, capped by a sterling 11th-place showing in Talladega. But the Hettinger team has been absent since, and fellow Ford runners AM Racing confirmed they too have shut down.
Enter the intriguing case of RSS Racing, a team which this season switched from Ford back to Chevrolet for the first time since 2020, part of their continued alliance with the Haas Factory Team and use of Hendrick engines. Brothers Ryan and Kyle Sieg have continued to show flashes of brilliance in the team’s leading #39 and #28 entries, joined occasionally by a part-time #38 entry driven on the superspeedways by Patrick Emerling. But earlier this month at Dover, the team brought back their #38 without both Emerling and a sponsor, and as a Ford instead of a Chevrolet. Logan Bearden drove that day, but made only 30 laps before brake issues. Yeley took the controls last Saturday in Charlotte, where he carried sponsorship from Carolina Land & Grading Solutions on the hood, plus Mike Efaw’s Poole and Outdoor Kitchens on the quarter-panels. From last on the grid, Yeley seemed set to run the whole race, but made it just 64 laps into an already rain-shortened 91-lap affair, putting him 34th. This was intriguing as, in 2019, Yeley drove the #38 to five last-place finishes as a “start-and-park” driver for RSS Racing, earning him that year’s LASTCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Championship.
The entry list for Nashville showed Yeley with the same sponsors from Charlotte, but this time both the hood and quarter-panel were left blank, leaving only the icon for Independent Metal Strap on the c-pillar. His was one of 38 drivers entered for as many starting spots, so all would qualify. In opening practice, cut short by lightning in the area, Yeley ranked 32nd with a best lap of 32.022 seconds (149.522mph). That same weather pattern cancelled qualifying, where he would have been second to take time after Cleetus McFarland in his second series start driving the #33 Tommy’s Express Car Wash Chevrolet. Instead, he’d roll off 37th to the inside of McFarland. During the pace laps, Yeley’s spotter warned him “If you don't mind, we've got some knuckleheads, Mr. Yeley,” mentioning both McFarland and 11th-place starter Mason Maggio in the #91 ControlAltProtect Chevrolet.
Yeley’s #38 in the Nashville garage. (PHOTO: Duv-ALL Sports Cards, @DuvALLsports)
Prior to the start, Yeley and McFarland were joined by two other drivers for pre-race penalties. With less than ten minutes to go in practice, Parker Retzlaff blew the engine on his #99 Funkaway Chevrolet, forcing him to surrender the 9th spot on the grid after the Viking Motorsports team completed the change. Also docked was 29th-place starter Brandon Jones for unapproved adjustments on his #20 Menards / Atlas Toyota. Both Jones and 19th-place starter Jeb Burton in the #27 Beretta / PH Outdoors Chevrolet had issues on pit road that delayed them joining the field. While Jones remained in the back, Burton was allowed to regain his spot in 19th.
By the time the green flag dropped, the tail end of the field had change completely with the penalized Jones up to 29th (2.468 seconds back of the lead) and Retzlaff in 31st (2.648). Mixed among them were 30th-place Harrison Burton (2.473), who was to start 35th in the #24 Jesse Gerhard Memorial Foundation / Bulovas Toyota, 32nd-place Sheldon Creed (2.762) who was to start 24th in the #00 Ollie’s Chevrolet, then 33rd-place Yeley (3.027), 34th-place Maggio (3.202), 35th-place David Starr (3.267) who was to start 22nd in the #53 Alarm Tech Chevrolet, 36th-place McFarland (3.448), then 37th-place Garrett Smithley (3.448) slated to start 10th in the #0 Knight Fire Chevrolet, and now 38th and last-place Dawson Cram (3.698), who was to line up 36th in the #35 Denver Dirt Chevrolet in another collaboration between Mike Harmon Racing and Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen. Unlike the previous weeks, Harmon did not enter and then withdraw his #74 for Nashville.
By the end of Lap 1, Smithley dropped to the 38th spot, showing 6.161 seconds back of the lead, then 7.724 at the start of Lap 3, when he was two-tenths back of McFarland as Cram in 36th opened up a gap to battle Starr in 35th. Smithley stayed within a half-second of McFarland for the never several laps until Lap 8, when McFarland dropped Cram to 37th. During the pass, Smithley also closed the gap to within three-tenths. That time by, Smithley’s spotter encouraged him to reel in the cars ahead, reporting, “the 35 probably has better momentum than the 55 (Joey Gase in the #55 Bcarestoration.com Chevrolet), nice and smooth.” On Lap 11, Cram padded his advantage over Smithley by another tenth, then on Lap 12 dropped Gase to the 37th spot. On Lap 15, Smithley was told Gase’s engine sounded “a little bit sick,” and sure enough by Lap 16 the final two cars in the running order were separated by less than a tenth of a second (Smithley 22.888 seconds back of the lead to 37th-place Gase at 22.737). On Lap 17, Smithley dropped Gase to last place and immediately opened up a four-tenths of a second advantage of his own.
Yeley pulls behind the wall at Nashville. (PHOTO: No Tires Just Gas on YouTube)
By Lap 20, Gase had fallen 30.182 seconds back of the lead and just under eight-tenths back of 37th-place Smithley, who by now was a full four seconds behind 36th-place Cram. This caused all three drivers to lose laps on separate circuits. Race leader Jesse Love moved to Gase’s outside on Lap 22 followed by Smithley on Lap 23 and Cram on Lap 27. During this run, Gase reported his gauges looked good despite a flat exhaust note, saying the oil pressure was at 60 and the water at 210. By Lap 42, Gase lost a second lap to Love with McFarland now in 30th, still hanging onto the tail end of the lead lap. On Lap 46, as the field came around to end Stage 1, McFarland had also lost a lap and was in a tight battle for 29th with Logan Bearden’s #42 T3 Vodka Chevrolet for 29th when he spun off Turn 4 into the infield grass. McFarland continued without serious damage, but plummeted to 36th.
Another view of Yeley going behind the wall. (PHOTO: Jonathan Fjeld, KickinTheTires.net)
Under caution, Gase’s crew discussed making two stops, first looking under the hood and then returning to change tires. Even after some difficulty in putting the hood back down, the Gase crew completed this without losing another lap, and Gase restarted on Lap 54 still two laps down. He was still holding the spot on Lap 62, when Yeley pulled down pit road, then behind the wall, citing an issue with the rear end. Due in part to the reshuffling of the backmarkers before the start, Yeley climbed up to 30th on Lap 5 and climbed as high as 28th before he went a lap down. Already two down by Lap 62, he dropped a third on Lap 63, moving him to last place behind Gase. He was quickly declared out by NASCAR on Lap 69. Gase lost his third lap on pace on Lap 75 as the lead battle intensified between Jesse Love and eventual race winner Justin Allgaier.
Yeley heading to the garage. (PHOTO: Jonathan Fjeld, KickinTheTires.net)
Gase only passed one more car all night due to extremely low attrition. The only other retiree was David Starr, whose #53 started trailing smoke in the closing stages, then pitted for a mechanical failure. The team weighed the option of completing repairs, but by then there were too few laps left to gain any ground, and they were at least 20 laps down. Gase finished 36th, nine laps down to the leaders. McFarland spun a second time at pit entrance and this time didn’t bring out the caution, ultimately leading to a 35th-place finish, six laps down. Cram rounded out the Bottom Five, finishing one lap ahead of McFarland.
LASTCAR STATISTICS
*Yeley is the first driver to finish last in an O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race due to rear end trouble since September 14, 2024, when Kyle Weatherman’s #36 DGM Racing Chevrolet fell out after 15 laps around Watkins Glen. It hadn’t happened in an O’Reilly race at Nashville since June 9, 2007, when he Justin Diercks’ #70 BIOMET / ForeTravel Chevrolet dropped out after 5 laps.
*This marked the first last-place finish for the #38 in an O’Reilly race since October 26, 2024, when Matt DiBenedetto lost the engine on his #38 NBCF Ford after 56 laps around Homestead. The number hadn’t finished last in an O’Reilly race at Nashville since June 10, 2006, when Jason Leffler scored his first series last-place run after a first-lap engine failure on his #38 Great Clips Chevrolet.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
38) #38-J.J. Yeley / 59 laps / rear end
37) #53-David Starr / 151 laps / suspension
36) #55-Joey Gase / 179 laps / running
35) #33-Cleetus McFarland / 182 laps / running
34) #35-Dawson Cram / 183 laps / running
2026 LASTCAR O’REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES OWNER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) DGM Racing x JIM, Joey Gase Motorsports with Scott Osteen, RSS Racing, Young’s Motorsports (2)
2nd) AM Racing, Big Machine Racing, Haas Factory Team, Hettinger Racing, JR Motorsports, Sam Hunt Racing, SS-Green Light Racing, Viking Motorsports (1)
2026 LASTCAR O’REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES MANUFACTURER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
1st) Chevrolet (11)
2nd) Ford (4)
3rd) Toyota (1)
2026 LASTCAR O’REILLY AUTO PARTS SERIES DRIVER’S CHAMPIONSHIP
