NY Racing Team returned to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2024 after missing the 2023 season, and they competed in a total of nine races, more than they had ever competed in before.
This year, they are on pace to eclipse that total. They have already run seven races before the halfway point of the 2025 season, with the most recent coming this past Sunday afternoon at Pocono Raceway.
While J.J. Yeley has been the team's primary driver since last year, running eight races a year ago and five of their first six this year (six of seven if you include the Daytona 500 DNQ), it was not Yeley behind the wheel of the No. 44 Chevrolet at the Tricky Triangle. Instead, it was Brennan Poole.
Poole had not competed in a Cup Series race since 2023.
Poole, who started 37th (last) in the 160-lap race around the three-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Long Pond, Pennsylvania oval after not making a qualifying attempt, was scored in 34th after being forced to retire with a drivetrain issue on lap 112.
The 34-year-old Folsom, California native does not have any more Cup Series starts lined up for 2025, though he does compete full-time in the Xfinity Series for Alpha Prime Racing.
And despite running the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February with Yeley behind the wheel of the No. 44 Chevrolet, NY Racing Team will not be competing this weekend.
The No. 44 car was the only non-chartered (open) car in the race at Pocono, but had it entered this weekend, it would not have been locked into the race. There can only be four open cars in a Cup Series race since there are 36 chartered cars and a 40-car limit, and there are indeed four.
The four open cars on this weekend's entry list include the No. 01 Rick Ware Racing Ford, the No. 66 Garage 66 Ford, the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet, and the No. 87 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. Those cars are set to be driven by Corey LaJoie, David Starr, B.J. McLeod, and Connor Zilisch, respectively.
NY Racing Team currently don't have any plans to return to the series until the season finale at Phoenix Raceway, which is Yeley's home track, but that will likely change. They have seemed to operate on a week-to-week basis lately, and that is expected to continue as the summer months progress.
Saturday night's Quaker State 400 is set to be shown live on TNT Sports from Atlanta Motor Speedway starting at 7:00 p.m. ET.