by Brock Beard / LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief

J.J. Yeley picked up the 22nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Cup Series career in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway when his #44 Beard Vet Coffee Chevrolet fell out with steering issues after 114 of 249 laps.

The finish, which came in Yeley’s 380th series start, was his first of the season and first in a Cup Series race since April 16, 2023 at Martinsville, 41 races ago (LINK). In the Cup Series’ last-place rankings, it was the 28th from steering, the 31st for the #44, and the 856th for Chevrolet. Across NASCAR’s top three series, it was the 37th from the steering, the 72nd for the #44, and the 1,941st for Chevrolet.

After closing out his 2023 season with Rick Ware Racing – a year that saw him finish a sterling 7th in Atlanta – Yeley has reunited with single-car team owner Johnathan Cohen, for whom Yeley drove in eight of the team’s 23 series starts. Cohen’s program, now the NY Racing Team, was a late entry for this year’s Daytona 500. Photos of the team’s hauler seemed to first indicate that Greg Biffle would resume his driving duties from their most recent starts in 2022. However, it was Yeley who took the wheel. The pairing almost paid off. In the closing stages of Bluegreen Vacations Duel #1, Yeley was firmly in the final transfer spot from no less than seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson. But on the final corner of the last lap, Johnson squirreled his way through traffic, sending Yeley home. Entering Charlotte, the team had returned just once since – a 34th-place finish in Las Vegas.

At Charlotte, Yeley would run double-duty with the NASCAR XFINITY Series. Driving the #14 Engine Parts Plus Chevrolet for Bobby Dotter’s team SS-Green Light Racing, Yeley spun in qualifying, then rallied from 38th and last on the grid to finish in 21st – his second-best finish in the series in 2024. On the Cup side, Yeley would take part in the first “full” field of 40 entries for as many spots in a non-Daytona 500 since October 24, 2021 at Kansas. He wouldn’t get a chance to practice or qualify, however, as the NY Racing Team’s #44 failed inspection three times. Again, he would start last – this time the 40th and final spot on the starting grid.

Yeley’s Chevrolet was one of the many patriotic paint schemes entered for Memorial Day weekend. First, the car carried sponsorship from Beard Vet Coffee on the hood and doors, plus Kheyleve.com Naturals and the Puma brand on the quarter panels. The car’s Tuskegee Airmen scheme - reminiscent of Erik Jones’ run in 2021 - matched their tribute as part of NASCAR’s “600 Miles of Remembrance program.” The name on the windshield was General Bengamin O. Davis, Jr., the first black general in the U.S. Air Force, and assigned to the Tuskegee Airmen. General Davis survived his service and lived to 89 years old when he died in 2002.

On the night of the race, several other drivers would also fall to the tail end of the field for pre-race penalties. Like Yeley, Chris Buescher didn’t turn a lap in qualifying, but his was due to wrecking his #17 Fastenal Ford in practice, forcing him to a backup car. Joey Logano qualified 28th in the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, only to run over a piece of debris that damaged his diffuser, forcing its replacement. The rain delay at the Indianapolis 500 forced Kyle Larson to miss the start of Sunday’s race, placing relief driver Justin Allgaier in the 10th-place qualified #5 HendrickCars.com H1100 Chevrolet. Allgaier was fitted into Larson’s seat as track drying was underway at Indy. Finally, Tyler Reddick qualified 8th in his #45 The Beast Unleashed Toyota, but the crew made unapproved adjustments to the underwing after inspection. Not only would Reddick have to drop to the tail end of the field and serve a pass-through after the green flag, but he lost pit position and his car chief was ejected.

When the green flag dropped, Yeley was still last across the stripe. He’d dropped behind all the penalized drivers along with B.J. McLeod, the original 37th-place qualifier, in Motorsports Business Management’s #66 Truan Equipment Ford. McLeod was the last to join the entry list late in the week, the result of a joint effort between Carl Long’s MBM team and McLeod’s at Live Fast Motorsports. Reddick slowed after taking the green flag and immediately served his pass-through penalty, dropping him to last on Lap 2. As he blended back into traffic, he was 9.833 seconds back of Yeley, a gap which grew to 21.713 by the time Reddick was back up to speed on Lap 4. From there, Reddick gradually reeled in the 39th-place car. The gap went down to 19.337 seconds on Lap 7, then 15.539 on Lap 10, when Yeley dropped McLeod back to 39th. McLeod was still 39th, but just 10.381 seconds ahead of Reddick on Lap 15. By then, Yeley had also pulled away from McLeod, leaving him stranded another 1.922 seconds behind. Reddick continued his march under green: 6.930 seconds behind McLeod on Lap 20, 5.540 on Lap 21, 4.951 on Lap 23, 3.321 on Lap 25, 2.250 on Lap 27, then just 0.811 on Lap 29. On Lap 30, Reddick dropped McLeod to last and opened a 0.207 second gap. The next time by, McLeod was the first driver lapped.

The green flag stayed out, leading to a sequence of pit stops that further shuffled the order. On Lap 34 – just three laps after Reddick passed McLeod on track – Corey LaJoie made a stop in his #7 Chili’s Cach-a-Rita Chevrolet, then dropped from 39th to 40th on Lap 36. On Lap 44, the spot fell to Kaz Grala in the #15 N29 Ford. By then, Grala was shown three laps down, and on Lap 47, he had to hold his line as he was caught in the middle between a closing Justin Haley in the #51 The Cleaning Authority Ford and Daniel Hemric in the #31 Cirkul Chevrolet. On Lap 52, the spot fell to Ty Dillon, whose #50 AmeriVet Securities Chevrolet was the former “The Money Team” effort, now without Floyd Mayweather’s backing. Dillon incurred a penalty for his pit crew coming over the wall too soon, and the resulting pass-through dropped him to last place. He only held it briefly as McLeod retook it on Lap 54.

McLeod was still in last place on Lap 88, when he spun off Turn 4 and rolled onto the final chicane from the track’s newly reconfigured “Roval” layout. Under the resulting caution, McLeod limped around the track with a flat right-front tire. “No clue what happened,” said the driver, estimating he ran something over as the tire let go without warning. He was five laps down by the time he made it to pit road for the first of at least three pit stops under the yellow. The car’s fenders were still intact, but the crew needed to press down the diffuser and roof flaps, and also topped him off on fuel. He then restarted the race on Lap 94, and reached the end of Stage 1 on Lap 101, still showing five laps down.

Under that yellow, McLeod remarked the car felt “balanced pretty well.” The crew told him he was running ten-lap scuffed tires, and was told not to slide them on his next stop. He then heard a cheer from the crowd, which the crew told him was from Kyle Larson taking the lead late in the Indianapolis 500 before a late-race pit stop left him 18th. There were also concerns over the weather, which the team was tracking on their cell phones. Still another piece of news concerned the car of Yeley, which was running one lap down in 38th. McLeod was told Yeley had steering issues, and would be dropping to the rear for the Lap 111 restart. “Well, that’s exciting,” said McLeod. Reportedly, Yeley had been without power steering since Lap 55, and was encouraged to run as long as he could. Around Lap 115, at nearly the same instant Josef Newgarden won the Indianapolis 500, Yeley reached that point. He pulled behind the wall and into his garage stall. Yeley took last place on Lap 120, and was quickly declared out by NASCAR on Lap 122. On Lap 147, with the car’s hood up, Yeley talked with his crew, and team owner Jonathan Cohen also arrived soon after.

Finishing 39th was Ryan Blaney, whose #12 BodyArmor Flash I.V. Ford had an unsecured right-front wheel, which put him in the wall on Lap 144. The crew was unable to complete repairs, so on Lap 159, a caution came out for NASCAR to tow Blaney’s car behind the wall. The 38th spot fell to Noah Gragson, whose #10 Bass Pro Shops Winchester Ford spun off the nose of Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and slammed the inside wall on the backstretch. McLeod climbed to 37th by the finish, eight laps down, with Ty Dillon taking 36th when the race was cut short by rain.

LASTCAR STATISTICS

*This marked the first last-place finish for the #44 in a points-paying Cup race at Charlotte.

*This was also the first time a Cup driver finished last at Charlotte due to steering issues.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

40) #44-J.J. Yeley / 114 laps / steering

39) #12-Ryan Blaney / 143 laps / crash

38) #10-Noah Gragson / 170 laps / crash

37) #66-B.J. McLeod / 241 laps / running

36) #50-Ty Dillon / 247 laps / running

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES OWNER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Spire Motorsports (3)

2nd) Penske Racing (2)

3rd) Joe Gibbs Racing, Kaulig Racing, Legacy Motor Club, Motorsports Business Management, RFK Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Rick Ware Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing (1)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Ford (6)

2nd) Chevrolet (5)

3rd) Toyota (2)

2024 LASTCAR CUP SERIES DRIVER'S CHAMPIONSHIP