For just the third time in 2024, NY Racing is poised to field a NASCAR Cup Series entry, with the John Cohen-owned race team making its return in the Coca-Cola 600, a person involved with the effort tells TobyChristie.com.
J.J. Yeley, a veteran of more than 800 NASCAR National Series starts, will be behind the wheel of the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro, in what serves as NASCAR’s longest event of the season.
The 47-year-old driver first partnered with the organization a decade ago, successfully qualifying for eight NASCAR Cup Series events during the 2014 season, with a best finish of 34th.
It would be four years before Yeley reunited with NY Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series, piloting the No. 7 Chevrolet in the 2018 Coca-Cola 600, finishing 38th.
Now, fast-forward another six years to earlier this year, in February, when Yeley got the last-minute call to compete in the 2024 Daytona 500 for NY Racing, and missed out on making the show after being passed on the last lap of his duel race by Jimmie Johnson.
The Phoenix, Arizona native also competed in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, where the No. 44 Urban Youth Racing School Chevrolet Camaro finished 34th of 37 drivers, six laps off the pace of eventual race-winner Kyle Larson.
In a career that has spanned more than two decades, Yeley is a veteran of the NASCAR Cup Series, making 20 starts on the oval configuration of Charlotte Motor Speedway, which has resulted in a single top-10 result — a runner-up finish in 2007 for Joe Gibbs Racing.
However, in last season’s Coca-Cola 600, Yeley, while driving the No. 15 Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing, mustered an impressive 16th-place finish, on the lead lap, which at the time was the organization’s best-ever finish on an intermediate track.
Yeley and NY Racing will be one of at least three open entries to compete in the Coca-Cola 600 next weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway — joining Jimmie Johnson and LEGACY MOTOR CLUB, plus David Starr and MBM Motorsports.
