Date: July 12, 2008
Event: LifeLock.com 400 (Round 19 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. (1.5-mile oval)
Start/Finish: 40th/24th (Running, completed 267 of 267 laps)
Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
J.J. Yeley rallied from an early setback to finish a respectable 24th in Saturday’s LifeLock.com 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.
Yeley and the DLP team had minor issues in technical inspection prior to the race and his car was not permitted on pit road until the other 42 drivers had already fired their engines and began the pace laps.
After starting the race one lap behind the leaders, Yeley kept cool, calm and collected and when the first caution came out at lap 35, he was awarded the lucky dog and gained his lap back.
From there, Yeley carved his way through the field and stayed in the top-25 for much of the event before settling for a 24th-place finish.
“The DLP guys did a good job tonight,” Yeley said. “We had a little issue in tech and we started the race in a pretty big hole, but the guys rallied back and we managed to get a decent finish out of it. I’m proud of the guys.”
The 24th-place finish moved Yeley up two spots 36th in the championship driver standings, with a post-Chicagoland total of 1,138 points. The No. 96 Hall of Fame Racing entry is 38th in the series’ owner standings with 1,256 points, 160 markers behind the 35th-place No. 00 car of Michael Waltrip Racing.
There were nine caution periods for 33 laps, with two drivers failing to finish the 267-lap race.
The Sprint Cup Series takes a rare weekend off before heading to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the July 27 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. The race begins at 2 p.m. EDT with live, high-definition coverage provided by ESPN beginning with its pre-race show at 1 p.m. The race will also be broadcast live on SIRIUS Satellite Radio Channel 128.
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