Race Weekend Central

JJ Yeley Replaces David Starr at TriStar Motorsports

Out with the old and in with the new is what TriStar Motorsports announced on Wednesday evening as Sprint Cup veteran JJ Yeley will replace NASCAR veteran David Starr in the No. 44 Toyota in the XFINITY Series for TriStar Motorsports starting at Talladega.

Starr, 48, has been running full-time with TriStar Motorsports for the past season-and-a-half and started the 2016 campaign with the team. In seven events this season, he posted a high result of 17th in his last race at Bristol. Yeley then took over at Richmond, when Starr was reportedly ill. Now, Yeley is the driver of the car for the foreseeable future. He was originally the driver of the team’s No. 14 Toyota this season.  That ride will be filled this weekend by Benny Gordon.

Starr has been around NASCAR since 1998, but 2014 saw him racing part-time for a rather young organization. Throughout his NASCAR career, he has four wins, all coming in the Camping World Truck Series and has 81 career starts in the XFINITY Series. He has also started four events in the Cup Series for Levine Family Racing in 2011, with a best finish of 27th.

Yeley, 39, is coming off a 2015 season, which saw him compete with BK Racing in the Cup Series, along with running a full-time schedule in the XFINITY Series with JGL Racing.

Yeley’s average finish of 19.7 in the No. 28 car ranked him 12th in the series standings. Throughout his career, he has strapped behind the wheel 225 times in the XFINITY Series with a best finish of second at Memphis and Kentucky with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Talladega is a track that Yeley has seen success at before, winning the pole for this event in 2006 and finishing a career-high fourth just last season.

About the author

Dustin joined the Frontstretch team at the beginning of the 2016 season. 2020 marks his sixth full-time season covering the sport that he grew up loving. His dream was to one day be a NASCAR journalist, thus why he attended Ithaca College (Class of 2018) to earn a journalism degree. Since the ripe age of four, he knew he wanted to be a storyteller.

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