Hendrick Motorsports’ ally makes a sneaky revelation about former JGR driver JJ Yeley’s NASCAR future

After closely missing out on this year’s Daytona 500, NY Racing will now try to qualify for the crown jewel event in 2025. The part-time NASCAR Cup Series team recently announced that J. J. Yeley would drive its No. 44 car.

Yeley, who ran eight races last season, has been NY Racing's primary driver since it opened its doors in 2009. Currently owned by John Cohen, NY Racing gets its car bodies from Richard Childress Racing and engines built by Hendrick Motorsports.

The Dawsonville, Georgia-based outfit dropped the big news through an Instagram comment. As reported by renowned journalist Joseph Srigley, the team wrote,

@jjyeley1 is the driver.”

NY Racing could have gone for an already existent, driver-sponsor pairing, but as per Jay Guy, crew chief of the No. 44 team, the team would not have just anyone driving its vehicle. He touched on the matter, saying,

“The aspect of having drivers come in with money is great, but you don’t want to just put anybody behind the wheel. You know we certainly want good caliber drivers like J. J. Yeley, or somebody like him to drive, but the facts are you need money.”

Besides three-time Cup Series champion Tony Stewart, J. J. Yeley is the only driver to win the USAC Triple Crown in a single season. Notably, his stock car racing career began in 2004 with Joe Gibbs Racing as the driver of the No. 18 in eight ARCA Menards Series races and about 12 Busch Series (now Xfinity Series) races.

Yeley made his Cup Series debut that year as well. Since then, he has delivered two top-5s and eight top-10s. In 2022, the 44-year-old driver ran select races under the banner of Rick Ware Racing. Yeley also has 30 Xfinity starts to his credit.

J. J. Yeley's crew chief opens up on big challenge in 2025

Racing part-time or making a one-off appearance in NASCAR’s top-tier racing series involves bringing in sponsorships. On that note, one might wonder if there’s a second race on NY Racing’s schedule this upcoming season and this is what Jay Guy had to say about it:

“There’s nothing really to announce yet, a lot of our season is pending on sponsorship. We need sponsors to be able to play in this great sport of NASCAR, so we’re just getting ready for when those opportunities come.”

Last year, 100 Coconut Water funded J. J. Yeley’s entry in the Daytona 500. The team continued through the season with sponsors like Youth Urban Racing School, Beard Vet Coffee, Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, Epoxy Depot, and the U.S. Aviation Academy.

The non-chartered team has yet to land sponsors for the event they want to run this year, besides the Daytona 500. The team will prepare for its third Daytona 500, scheduled for February 16. Fans can watch the race live on FOX or listen to radio updates on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio from 2:30 pm ET onwards.