NASCAR Cup Series rookie Brennan Poole has been the full-time driver of the #15 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet, up to this point, in 2020, but he won’t be in a car for Saturday night’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the 29th race of the 36-race season. Instead, another RWR driver, J.J. Yeley, will be in the #15 at Bristol.
“New number and new look for @thriv5 and @jjyeley1 @BMSupdates,” a tweet form Rick Ware Racing (@RickWareRacing) on Thursday read.
Poole will miss his first race of the season 32nd in the driver points standings, while the #15 team also is 32nd in the car owner standings. Poole has a best finish of 15th at Daytona International Speedway. He was 24th at Bristol earlier this season.
Poole was on the entry list for the Bristol race and was given the 32nd starting position based on NASCAR’s formula for setting race starting grids. Yeley, though, will have to start in the back because of the driver change that was made after NASCAR set the grid for Bristol.
Yeley has contested 27 of the 28 races, so far, this season, most of them with Rick Ware Racing and in multiple RWR entries, including the #27, #52 and #53. He also has run races for Spire Motorsports and Tommy Baldwin Racing this season.
Yeley has a best 2020 race finish of 21st at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He finished 25th at Bristol earlier this season.
Despite taking Poole out of the #15, RWR still is at its limit of four cars entered for Bristol. In addition to Yeley in the #15, Gray Gaulding is in the #27, Joey Gase in the #51 and James Davison in the #53. The #52 is not entered.
Poole still is on the RWR driver roster, but it is unclear how many races he’ll contest of the seven races remaining in 2020.
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