JJ Yeley, the 26-year-old USAC national sprint-car champ and Silver Crown champ, has signed a contract to join Joe Gibbs’ team next season, team sources confirmed yesterday, though the announcement isn’t expected for a few weeks. JJ, whose real name is Christopher Beltram Hernandez Yeley, has Tony Stewart as a mentor and now as a teammate. But Yeley may have a long way to go before making it to the Winston/Nextel Cup tour. Jimmy Makar, general manager for Gibbs, says that the new team is still in a formative stage. “We’re trying to develop a program to develop a young driver,” Makar says. “We’ve got some sponsorship irons in the fire, a few small things we’re working on, but nothing major yet. We’re looking at doing some Busch races and some ARCA races next year. We’ll really just take it as it comes. There’s nothing saying we have to run X-amount of races in any one division. We’ll start testing and see how he develops, and add races as he develops.” Who will run the team? “We’ve got six or seven guys on a list to talk to,” Makar says. “We’ve talked to a few already, and we’ll talk to more in the next few weeks, and decide which way to go.”( Winston Salem Journal )(11-17-2003)
