Dave Blaney followed up his season's best finish last week with another top-10 this week. Credit: Autostock

Blaney, Yeley continue hot streaks with top-10s

LOUDON, N.H. -- On paper, there was exactly no reason why Dave Blaney and J.J. Yeley had any shot at scoring a top-10 at New Hampshire.

Somehow, both men managed to do just that.

Blaney, who qualified 21st, failed to run any better than 19th-quickest in any of the practices. Yeley was even worse; his car simply refused to turn, and he was a pedestrian 36th in qualifying on Friday.

J.J. Yeley said his team changed everything on the car Sunday, and it worked. Credit: Autostock

Sylvania 300 Results Pos. Driver Make 1. Kevin Harvick Chevy 2. Tony Stewart Chevy 3. Jeff Gordon Chevy 4. Denny Hamlin Chevy 5. Brian Vickers Chevy 6. Elliott Sadler Dodge 7. Jeff Burton Chevy 8. J.J. Yeley Chevy 9. Dave Blaney Dodge 10. Matt Kenseth Ford • Complete results, click here • Driver standings, click here Victory LaneKevin Harvick celebrates his Sylvania 300 win at Loudon Final lapsCars go crashing across the finish line behind Harvick Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

Yeley's team spent all Sunday morning reworking the balky car, and the rookie took off from the start of the green on Sunday, as he cracked the top 15 by the midpoint of the race. After a two-tire stop at the end, he wound up eighth, matching his career high.

"We're happy with eighth, but I thought we had a good shot at a top-five if we had kept going green," Yeley said. "But it is definitely light years above where we've been."

The road was much tougher for Blaney, who finished a season-high fourth last weekend at Richmond.

Blaney blew a tire on Lap 96 and fell all the way back to 30th, but crew chief Kevin Hamlin kept Blaney on the track when the caution flew with just 90 laps to go.

That move gave Blaney the lead, and he kept it for four laps. Blaney then caught a major break on Lap 265 when the caution flew again, enabling him to pit on the same cycle as most of the lead-lap cars.

"We just kept creeping forward, and Kevin made a great call to stay out there," Blaney said. "We had a good car. This car has been real fast."

Blaney has moved from 33rd to 28th in the points in the second half of the season on the strength of six top-20 finishes. He had just two top-20 finishes in the first half.

Like Blaney, Yeley was coming off a solid performance at Richmond (he finished 13th) but his chances for a repeat performance at Loudon were not promising.

"I know they [his team] were really discouraged," Yeley said. "I think the fastest we were all weekend was 33rd in our best practice.

"Our second run [on Sunday] we made a couple changes and really hurt the racecar and I started getting a little discouraged. We never gave up. The guys kept digging and the car was really hooked up."

After the miserable performance in practice, crew chief Steve Addington called for major changes in the setup for Sunday. It was a desperation move for a team trying to crack the top 20 in points, and it worked.

"The guys changed spring and shocks and they changed a lot of things [Sunday]," Yeley said. "It was a matter of kind of flying blind into the start of this deal, but most everything they did was a good change."