Brad Coleman Joins HOF Racing; JJ Yeley Out of Work
*Credit photo to Newscom.
After what most would consider to be an unsuccessful run with Joe Gibbs Racing to get his career started in the Sprint Cup Series, it didn’t take JJ Yeley long to once again find himself looking for work. Hall of Fame Racing announced on Wednesday that they were parting ways with Yeley in favor of 20 year old, Brad Coleman.
Coleman will run his first race with the team on August 17th at Michigan, as the team already made plans to run road course specialist, PJ Jones, in the car this weekend at Watkins Glen. Michigan will mark Brad’s official debut in the Sprint Cup Series after just two season of competing in the Nationwide Series, during which he has compiled 3 top-five and 6 top-ten finishes. He’s going to have his work cut out for him as he takes over the reigns of the no. 96 car, which currently sits 38th in car owner points.
“J.J. is a talented race car driver and a great person and this was a difficult decision to make,” said Tom Garfinkel, co-owner of HOF Racing. “We all share responsibility that our performance hasn’t been what it needs to be, but we concluded it was time to make a change.
“I really appreciate Jeff Moorad and Tom for giving me this opportunity,” Coleman said. “I have really enjoyed my time testing with the people on the team and I’m looking forward to having a successful weekend at Michigan in the DLP HDTV Toyota and helping Hall of Fame Racing finish out the season as strong as possible.”
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6 opinions for Brad Coleman Joins HOF Racing; JJ Yeley Out of Work
Daniel
Aug 8, 2008 at 8:06 am
There is absolutely no comparision to JJ and Kyle from last year. The 18 is not the same team as it once was, anybody who knows atleast 1% of anything about NA$CAR knows that. New motors, team members switched, and with M&M on board, the $ went from 6-8Million to 20-25Million which now makes the 18 on par with the 20 and the 11, it doesn’t take much research to find that alittle fact out. That being said, HOF was nothing more than a R&D team for Gibbs once again. HOF lied in every thing they said, they never made any changes, besides a crew chief change about race 7. JJ was screwed from the word go, if Coleman was their “test” driver what info was he giving back to them? the 96 still struggled and drove around in the back. Look at some of JJ’s runs, Daytona: Debris puts hole in grill Calif: Carburator issues, Martinsville: Hornish punts him. Phnx: Newmand blows engine gets hit by Sorenson, Richmond: Blaney punts him. Dalington: Alternator, Dover: Martin puts him the wall, Michigan: electrical then blown motor….. so as you can see it’s not excuse but then again it’s not all drivers fault, plain and simple HOF is going broke and they started dumping payrole and JJ got screwed, let’s see if they are around next year as a single team. JJ has the talent he just needs a team that really want to compete.
Tim Zaegel
Aug 8, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Daniel, thanks for all that info. Not only is interesting, but it really puts in perspective what a difference good equipment can make. I think we all saw firsthand that JJ’s a very capable driver when he subbed in for Stewart at Daytona, albeit circumstances out of his control ended his day there as well.
That said, while the no. 18 team has definitely changed between 2007 and 2008, I would have to say that Kyle Busch is a far more gifted driver than Yeley, but that’s nothing to be ashamed of. Kyle is an extraordinary talent. JJ’s a very capable driver as well, I just believe he truly needs a fair shake at this.
Daniel
Aug 8, 2008 at 5:46 pm
ps. let5’s not forget Pocono,JJ was a 1 1/2 laps short on fuel and costed into the pits and wound up 4 laps down. Like I said before it’s not all JJ fault, but when it was (Texas) when JJ said “Driver ran out of talent” when he hit the wall, He stepped up and took the blame and got a azz chewing from HOF for saying that.. Anyway, I really hope other owners see what most everyone else saw JJ can drive with the “elite” if given the proper equipment, it says alot that Tony “asked” for JJ to run his car for him and JJ drove from the back up to the top 10…
Tim Zaegel
Aug 8, 2008 at 7:10 pm
I didn’t even think about last weekend at Pocono … where was he running before he ran out of gas, btw?
Bruce Simmons
Aug 9, 2008 at 12:48 am
To me, HOF needs to look more at their own equipment program than change of drivers. J.J. put the No 20 car up where he was looking at a top 10 until he got caught up in the wreck.
I hope he can get a decent chance somewhere.
BTW: Good insight Daniel.
Tim Zaegel
Aug 10, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Couldn’t agree more, Bruce.
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