Yeley wonders what could have been at Gibbs Racing (cont'd)

A change, Chapman said, wasn't a surprise considering this season was Yeley's last year in his multi-year contract with Joe Gibbs Racing, who also fields cars for two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart and 2006 rookie of the year Denny Hamlin.

"Since Daytona, we knew at any moment we could be told [Joe Gibbs Racing] would make a change, either party could," Chapman said. "Our eyes and options have been open from the get go."

Busch to Gibbs

Sources said Kyle Busch is headed to Joe Gibbs Racing to drive the 18 car next season.

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Meanwhile, Yeley said he gave 100 percent and will continue to do so for the rest of the season but said his best apparently wasn't good enough.

"It's not going to change the fact that I'm leaving at the end of the year because if that was the talk three months ago that I was racing for my job and I went out and did my job and won races and ran up front, I was going to stay at Joe Gibbs Racing," he said. "If it's a chemistry thing or whatever it's taken for us to get better, we haven't been able to find it."

Yeley's career with Gibbs began in 2004 with a partial Busch Series schedule.

In 2005, after finishing 11th in points in his first full Busch Series season, Yeley got the nod to pilot the No. 18 Chevrolet in the Cup Series for 2006 and 2007.

A 31-year-old native of Phoenix, Ariz., Yeley is nearing the end of his second season with Joe Gibbs Racing and Chapman said it's been "frustrating" with only one top-10 to speak of where Yeley finished second at the Coca-Cola 600 and now sits 21st in points.

That said, Yeley has improved over last season. At this point in 2007, the driver was 28th in the standings.

Aside from mechanical issues in Bristol and Dover, wrecks in Texas and Phoenix, Yeley has consistently run in the upper mid-pack of the field all season, but mid-pack is not the performance Joe Gibbs Racing expects from its drivers.

Chapman, who is also Yeley's spotter on the track, said this season the driver has done everything to get the No. 18 as fast as possible.

"We haven't been all that happy," he said. "We wanted the 18 team to perform like the other two cars [Stewart and Hamlin]. We wanted all three teams to run equally at the end of day."

Since the beginning of the season, the Nos. 20 and 11 Joe Gibbs Racing machines have run equally in the top 10 and both have wins, although, the No. 18 car hasn't seen Victory Lane since 2003 when the car was piloted by past-champion Bobby Labonte and crewed by Michael "Fatback" McSwain.

From 2000 to 2005, the No. 18 amassed nine victories, 54 top-five finishes and eight pole positions.

A changing of the guard came in December 2004 for the No. 18 with the addition of crew chief Steve Addington with Labonte still at the wheel, where he stayed until Yeley stepped in for the 2006 season.

Addington, former Busch Series crew chief on the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Busch Series team, is only the fourth crew chief hired during the 13-year history of the No. 18 team.

Before Addington, McSwain held the post but after a year-and-a-half tenure, Joe Gibbs Racing released McSwain in July 2004.

From the 2004 season until now, statistics show the car experienced a steady decline in performance, producing no wins, 10 top-five finishes and two poles.

An official announcement regarding the future of the No. 18 car at Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch as the driver is expected to come at 11 a.m. ET Tuesday in North Carolina.

"Before I say anything I want to have a done deal," Gibbs said. "I feel good about it. Right now we feel good about it and the direction we're going."

As for the crew, Gibbs said he plans to keep the current crew and crew chief Addington in place for the 2008 season when Busch is expected to join the team.

Yeley, who joked before Sunday's race that the Indy Racing League has job openings, said his departure from Joe Gibbs Racing will not affect his attitude for the duration of the season.

"For the most part it takes a lot of burden off my shoulders and probably the team's shoulders," he said. "Now I don't have to worry about what's going to happen. I can go out there and drive the racecar."