Friday Notes: Yeley, Kill Carl, Olympics
Not so Dyno-Mite! JJ Yeley was told by Hall of Fame Racing you don’t have to go home, but you can’t drive here. It’s interesting that both Yeley and HoF Racing have taken similar paths since debuting in the Cup series in 2006.
Yeley had an impressive resume in sprint cars, winning the USAC triple crown. He moved to the Busch Series and then landed a Cup ride with Joe Gibbs Racing thanks in part to a personal recommendation from Tony Stewart. The general scouting report on Yeley was that he was talented but raw. He displayed some of his talent and a lot of the rawness in his first two years with Gibbs. He only had one top five in two plus seasons in the #18 car. When Gibbs had the chance to sign Kyle Busch, Yeley was the obvious cut. He was still a good prospect at the Cup level and signed with Hall of Fame Racing for 2008.
Meanwhile Hall of Fame Racing began as a satellite team of Gibbs in 2006. Tony Raines and Terry Labonte drove for the team owned by Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman and Bill Saunders. After a solid debut, the team looked like it was establishing itself for the long haul. Unfortunately the team didn’t improve much in 2007. They only scored one top ten and finished 25th in owner points. It was still solid, but the progress was stalled. Things took another In the fall of 2007 Aikman and Staubach sold most of their interests to Geoffrey Moorad and Tom Garfinkel of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
After switching to Toyota the season has been a disaster. The team fell out of the top 35 and Yeley has failed to qualify for four races this year. Aside from one top five thanks to a gamble on pit strategy, Yeley has not finished better than 24th all season.
This week he was let go in favor of promising youngster Brad Coleman. Obviously the team has switched to preparing for 2009 and with Coleman they can get a head start. Don’t be fooled by Coleman’s mediocre Nationwide numbers. He is driving for an underfunded Curb Racing team. Coleman is a talent that simply couldn’t get a regular ride in the crowded Gibbs Racing stable. While Coleman may struggle to do much better than Yeley, it’s better to take some lumps now and have more seat time before the 2009 Daytona 500. As for Yeley he seems destined to take the David Stremme path of Nationwide/Cup test driver with the occasional fill-in start while rebuilding his resume.
One thing that brings a wry smile to my face is fluffy PR headlines. Things like “Waltrip looks to put 43rd place finish behind him” or “McMurray hopes to run well at The Glen”. They are pretty obvious and really don’t add any insight. This week I saw the headline, “Roush: Edwards is ready to win the title”. Now that Edwards has his team owner’s blessing there’s no stopping him! Edwards finished in a tie for second in the Chase in his first full season. He has won eleven Cup races and 197 Nationwide races, he doesn’t need anyone’s blessing. He’s been ready since 2005 to win a title.
But maybe Roush knows something else. Maybe Roush forced Edwards to go and train with Pai-Mei and learning to break boards with his fingers, carry water up and down mountains and learn to kill a man with the five point palm exploding heart technique. Now you are ready, Carl Edwards!
The Olympics begin today. Whether it’s because I’m older and have less time to spend watching the Olympics, almost every sport features drug scandals, the live coverage is in the middle of the night, or the Chinese Government has subliminally told me to pay no attention to the Games, I am not very excited for the Games. There are definitely some amazing stories to follow, like Lopez Lomong. He was taken captive in Sudan when he was a child, escaped to Kenya and eventually was brought to the US but the UN. Now he is a part of Team Sudan, trying to spread the word about the atrocities in Sudan.
” When we were in Africa, we didn’t know what was there for us as kids–we just ran. God was planning all of this stuff for me, and I didn’t know. Now I’m using running to get the word out about how horrible things were back in Sudan during the war. Sometimes these things are not on CNN, so if I put out the word, I hope people can get the information. Right now, similar terrible things are going on in Darfur; people are running out of Darfur, and I put myself in their shoes.”
This issue goes far beyond politics. People are treating others cruelly and thousands are dying. It’s something that some athletes, known as Team Darfur are trying to raise awareness about. Please keep it Sudan in mind while you watch the Olympics. Maybe it’s a little unsettling, but that’s a good thing. There are things far greater than Goodyear’s bad tires, Silly Season or the Olympics.