With finishes that did not top 24th, and failing to qualify for two of the past three races, J.J. Yeley flabbergasted many Hardcore Race Fans on Sunday.

Yeley, among seven others, elected to stay on the track when the leaders went in on the final round of pit stops. Yeley lucked out on his decision to stay out. With seventeen laps until the conclusion of the race, rain began to fall from the sky ending the race early. Yeley’s Hall of Fame Toyota Camry went home with a third place finish Sunday evening

"This particular week I found the way to the back door so I could sneak in and sit in this seat,'' Yeley stated in the postrace news conference.

Yeley declared that there are times when he has a high finishing car but does not have the track position to bring out the car’s potential.

"We got to where we had a really fast race car, just didn't have the track position,'' he added. "There's a lot of times we ran as fast as the leader for 20 or 30 laps under any kind of run.''

This third place finish was important to the struggling Hall of Fame Racing team, and Yeley completely agrees.

"It's tremendous,'' he said. "Last week (at Sonoma) was a big blow because I didn't feel that I was going to miss the race. ... To go out there and miss the race by five one-hundredths (of a second), get ourselves further behind, was devastating. It makes it even worse because I have to stay there Sunday, and I have to do hospitality and I have to go see fans.

Disliking having to sit and watch the race, Yeley testifies, "You try to explain to people why you missed the race. It is the toughest thing in the world. It's very surreal. Sitting in the grandstands or sitting in the suite having to watch the entire race makes you want it even worse than you could have ever possibly imagined. It was an extra fire for me coming here after Sonoma.''

Yeley added, "Hopefully, this is just a sign of things to come.''