Yeley Earns Pole and Captures Top-20 Finish in Kentucky

SPARTA, KY (July 12, 2015) - J.J. Yeley and his JGL Racing team earned their first NASCAR XFINITY Series pole award together on Friday at Kentucky Speedway.   After starting from the first position for the fourth time in his NASCAR XFINITY Series career, Yeley steered his No. 28 Toyota to an 18th-place finish in the running of the Kentucky 300 at the 1.5-mile track in Sparta, Kentucky.

"We obviously had higher hopes for a stronger finish tonight after starting from the pole," said Yeley.  "We battled being a little free all night through the center of the corner and that just killed our momentum.  We did a great job in practice and that paid off with the pole when qualifying got rained out."

After rain finally cleared out at Kentucky Speedway, Yeley would start the 300-mile event from the pole as a result of qualifying being rained out earlier in the day and the field set by practice speeds.  However, when the green flag flew the veteran NASCAR racer would drop back in the field as he battled a loose condition on his No. 28 Toyota.  The JGL Racing crew would make adjustments during multiple pit stops but it just wasn't enough to cure the handling issues.  Yeley would battle until the end and come home with his ninth top-20 finish of the season.

"It was encouraging to find the speed that we did in practice," added Yeley.  "Now we need to figure out how we maintain that speed in race trim so we get our desired finishes. This JGL Racing team continues to work hard and make progress and I think we are gaining on it."

With the 18th-place finish, Yeley maintained his 15th place standing in the overall NASCAR XFINITY Series drivers' standings - a mere two points out of the 14th spot.

Yeley and his JGL Racing team will set their sights next on New Hampshire Motor Speedway.  The running of the Lakes Region 200 will be Saturday July 18th and can be seen LIVE on NBC Sports Network at 4:00 pm ET.  It can also be heard on Performance Racing Network (PRN) and Sirius Channel 90.