Date:                      Oct. 19, 2007

Event:                     Subway 500 (Round 32 of 36)

Series:                   NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series

Location:               Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (.526-mile oval)

Pole Winner:       Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports (19.938 seconds at 94.974 mph)

JGR Lineup:         J.J. Yeley (8^th, 20.039 seconds at 94.496 mph)

Denny Hamlin (30^th, 20.185 seconds at 93.812 mph)

Tony Stewart (34^th, 20.241 seconds at 93.553 mph)

J.J. Yeley, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet, qualified eighth to lead the three-car Joe Gibbs Racing contingent during time trials for Sunday’s Subway 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.  Hamlin turned a lap of 20.039 seconds at 94.496 mph on the .526-mile oval.

 

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“We never made a mock qualifying run and made only 18 laps in race trim (during today’s practice session shortened to 20 minutes by rain),” said Yeley, who scored his third top-10 qualifying effort of the season to go with his pole at Michigan in June and the fifth spot he earned at Martinsville in April. “The Interstate Batteries car is really good, to say the least. We qualified fifth here in the spring and should’ve had a good finish. But I pitted outside the box and that put us a lap down. (Today) we had to go through tech a second time during qualifying and had to change a lot of stuff, so I worked hard to try and keep my composure. I took a really conservative first lap, then went for it on the second lap and just overdrove my entry a little bit. That took me out of my rhythm and hurt the second lap. I didn’t realize the first lap was so good. Any time you come to a short track, up front is a good place to start. We’ve got a good race car. We’re near the front. We’ll just try and stay out of trouble and come home with a good finish here at Martinsville.”

Yeley’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates – Denny Hamlin, in the No. 11 FedEx Freight Chevrolet, and Tony Stewart in the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet – qualified 30^th and 34^th, respectively.  Hamlin turned a lap of 20.185 seconds at 93.812 mph, while Stewart stopped the clocks in 20.241 seconds at 93.553 mph. 

The Subway 500 gets underway at 1:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Oct. 21.  ABC will broadcast the event live and in high-definition beginning with its pre-race show at 1 p.m.