Yeley wins superspeedway pole

TALLADEGA, Ala. – For a guy who cut his racing teeth on the Midwest’s short tracks, J.J. Yeley really loves the big ovals.

On Friday, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver added the NASCAR Busch Series pole for the Aaron’s 312 at Talladega Superspeedway to the one he earned in the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway – the first of his Busch career.

“We’ve been really close to getting the pole,” said Yeley, who is also racing full time as a rookie in Nextel Cup. “We’ve been second a few times and somebody knocks me off.

“It is ironic, but this car is very good, an awesome car. When you jump out of the Cup car and get into a Busch car, these cars are much easier to drive. You can get out of the Cup car and you feel like King Kong getting into the Busch car.”

Yeley, fourth in the Busch season points, turned a fast lap of 184.751 mph in his Gibbs Chevrolet, considerably quicker than runner-up Clint Bowyer’s 184.002 in a Chevrolet.

Denny Hamlin, Yeley’s JGR teammate in both series, was third at 183.931, followed by rookie Danny O’Quinn Jr. at 183.829, Brian Vickers at 183.766 and Aaron Fike at 183.540.