Yeley to drive Busch for Phoenix

J.J. Yeley wanted a shot at the Busch Series championship this year, so he has undertaken an audacious task for the 2007 season. Yeley, who is best known as the Nextel Cup driver of Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 18 car, will also race a full Busch Series schedule as a driver for Phoenix Racing.

Yeley, who raced a partial schedule last season for Gibbs' No. 18 Busch team, is one of only a handful of drivers planning on running a full schedule for both racing series.

"I'm really excited about it because it gives me another op to run for the Busch championship," Yeley said Friday from Phoenix Racing's Spartanburg garage. "The way I look at it, if you're going to take that much time and dedication to run two-thirds of the races, it's not that much more to try to do all of them."

Yeley could wind up racing as many as 70 times this season. Most Busch Series races are held at the same locations where the more prestigious Nextel Cup is held, but some weekends will prove logistically difficult.

On Aug. 4, the Busch race will be held in Montreal, a day before the Nextel race at Pocono Speedway in Pennsylvania.