Driver J.J. Yeley stands with the pole award after qualifying for Sunday race at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich., Friday, June 15, 2007. Yeley grabbed his first career pole on Friday.


June 15, 2007
By Bruce Martin PA SportsTicker Contributing Editor

BROOKLYN, Michigan (Ticker) While all the focus has been on Dale Earnhardt Jr. signing with Hendrick Motorsports, and Kyle Busch's departure from that team at the end of this season, J.J. Yeley won't be surprised if his first career Nextel Cup pole goes unnoticed.

Yeley won the pole Friday with a lap at 187.505 miles per hour, circling the two-mile oval in 38.399 seconds in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Sunday's Citizens Bank 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

"It's very fitting for a green car to lead us to the green flag and hopefully it will be the checkered flag, too, said Yeley, a former USAC open wheel driver from Phoenix, Arizona. "It was an excellent lap. After the lap was over I couldn't find out from my crew guys what I ran. I kept asking and asking and asking and not one told me what was going on.

It is Yeley's second top-10 start in 2007, but his first start better than 14th in three Cup races at MIS.

Jimmie Johnson of Hendrick Motorsports was second in a Chevrolet at 187.500 mph followed by Busch, who held the pole for most of the session before being dropped to third. His lap was 186.829 mph in another Hendrick Chevrolet.

The car was pretty fast today in practice, Busch said. We made some steady laps there, we didn't want to do anything out of control and we were able to get a quick lap right there. We picked up a lot, so that was definitely good.

In a week where he's been the focus of so much attention, Busch would like to prove team owner Rick Hendrick wrong for giving his ride to Earnhardt next season.

It's a good track for me, Busch said of Michigan. I always seem to run well here and we're always pretty fast. We've led a lot of laps here and we can run up front. We just keep having our troubles here for some reason. We'll either have a lug nut fall off, or a speeding penalty on pit road on my end, or flat tires, hitting the walls, stuff like that.

We've got plenty of business to take care of still.

Ryan Newman was fourth in a Dodge Charger at 186.596 mph with Joe Nemechek's Chevrolet rounding out the top five at 186.475 mph.

Defending race winner Kasey Kahne was 36th at 183.739 mph in a Dodge.

An early draw probably isn't the best thing today, but Greg Biffle went five-tenths (of a second) quicker than we did, so it's working for him, Kahne said of going early. We're all right. The car is driving decent. We'll keep working on it and hopefully have a good racecar for Sunday.

We won this race last year, so it would be nice to run up front again this weekend.

Fan favorite Earnhardt qualified 23rd in his Chevrolet, but he can always look ahead to next year when he takes over for Busch at Hendrick Motorsports.

I'm looking forward to moving and getting things going and deciding what else we've got to decide over there, Earnhardt said. But I'm trying to get the best qualifying position we can today. I'm working real hard with the Chevrolet (at DEI) and Martin Truex Jr. (his teammate) has a great car.

I love this track and I love running here. I'm anticipating getting in the car tomorrow and trying to get her dialed in.

One driver who didn't have his car dialed in was two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart, who also happens to be the pole winner's teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing.

Stewart was 43rd on speed and had to take a provisional starting position. He will start 41st on Sunday.

We were just a little bit too free but we've been that way all day, Stewart said of his Chevrolet. The good part is that we've been consistent and that's a lot easier to fix than being tight. Even though we didn't get all the way here today by the time we get two race runs in tomorrow, we should be in good shape.

Maybe he can get some advice from his teammate, Yeley, who is looking to add his first Cup victory to his first Cup pole.

I sure hope so, Yeley said. Every time you watch this race it seems like there's a Roush car out front. Tony has always run well here. Last year we had some good runs, we just didn't get the finishes we needed.

Hopefully this will be the right week and we can get it done and get Joe Gibbs Racing back in the winner's circle.

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Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
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Ryan Newman, Daytona 500 Champion!!
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oh man... .001

I'm happy for JJ... he's a good kid, and deserves the props for hustling his chevy around Michigan.... it'll be a fun race to watch!

JGR told JJ that his future was in his own hands. Since that it looks like he's kicked it up a notch. I hope that he continues this little hot streak that he's on.

Way to go JJ! How about that, one one-thousand of a second.

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Good job good to see he's doing a great job