WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- When he signed with Hall of Fame Racing as a test driver late last year, Brad Coleman figured he'd be in a Sprint Cup car at about this time in the 2008 season. But he thought his debut at NASCAR's highest level would be in a second vehicle, and not the organization's flagship No. 96 Toyota.

Not that he's too choosy, mind you. "I'll take this," Coleman said Friday, two days after team management informed him that he would take over the No. 96 beginning next weekend at Michigan. "I'm excited about it."

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Brad's got a tremendous amount of talent. He's going to be challenged as a rookie here, but he's shown us a lot.

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TOM GARFINKEL, OWNER

Mired 38th in owner points and with only one finish better than 24th this year, the Hall of Fame team this week fired J.J. Yeley and turned to the 20-year-old Coleman, who will slide behind the wheel after P.J. Jones competes in Sunday's road-course event at Watkins Glen International (read more). Although Coleman has never won in more than two years in the Nationwide Series, Hall of Fame brass is more focused on his reputation as a strong qualifier -- the Texan has seven starts inside the top 10 this year, and won a pole at Talladega last season.

"If you watch what he's doing every week in the Nationwide Series, he consistently out-qualifies his practice times by two or three tenths [of a second]," team co-owner Tom Garfinkel, also an executive with the Arizona Diamondbacks, said by telephone from his Phoenix office. "He brings the car home where the car should be or higher, he doesn't get in crashes, he communicates well about what he needs in the car to make it better. What he did last year in really good Nationwide equipment, qualifying up front at Bristol the first time he's ever seen the place, winning a pole at Talladega the first time he's ever been there, Brad's got a tremendous amount of talent. He's going to be challenged as a rookie here, but he's shown us a lot."

There's little room for error -- the No. 96 car is a distant 216 owner points out of the top 35, the line that separates teams with guaranteed starting berths from those who must qualify on speed. Coleman will have to earn his way into the field next week at Michigan, and perhaps do the same for much of the rest of the year. But he knows that's why he's being brought on board.

"We're going to put a lot of emphasis on qualifying," he said. "In order to get back in the top 35 in points, you've got to qualify for races. I look at myself as a pretty good qualifier. Through my Nationwide career, my ARCA career, I've qualified up in the top 10 most of the time. I'm excited to get in there and try one of these out."

Qualifying is what doomed Yeley, who this time last year lost his ride in Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 18 car -- which now belongs to series points leader Kyle Busch. The affable Phoenix native and former U.S. Auto Club champion failed to make four events this season, and never started better than 22nd. Garfinkel said team management had some "frank discussions" with Yeley after they missed the June 8 race at Pocono, and again after they missed the June 22 race at Sonoma, and made the change after a 43rd-place start and 39th-place finish last weekend at Pocono.

"It was a difficult decision. We all share in the responsibility of our performance, but our performance isn't where it needs to be, particularly where it relates to our qualifying performance. We started out the year, and our cars weren't as fast as they needed to be. Since Steve Boyer's taken over as crew chief, he's done a great job. Our cars have been faster, our lap times have been good. But we've really struggled with track position, and we've really struggled with qualifying as fast as we've practiced," Garfinkel said.

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I don't know what the books look like at Hall of Fame Racing, but the way it sounds to me is, things could be getting tight, and they needed to make some changes, and they made them.

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J.J. YELEY

"To be fair, our performance, I don't think it's fair to say it's all J.J.'s fault. We share responsibility in that. But I do think the qualifying efforts at Indianapolis, at both Poconos, at Sonoma, have hurt us. We shouldn't be missing races, as fast as our cars are. I'm not saying we should be taking pole positions every weekend either, but we shouldn't be as close to missing races as we have been, and that's really the biggest concern. J.J.'s driven his heart out. He's been a great ambassador for the team, and he's got a ton of talent. We think very highly of him. But [we] concluded it was time to make a change."

Repeated attempts to reach Yeley were unsuccessful. In an interview Thursday on Sirius Satellite Radio, Yeley seemed surprised that the change was made. He said he was at the beach when he received a text message Tuesday night asking him to come by the race shop, and that five or six other employees were also let go. He said he was "blindsided" by the decision, and wondered whether economics played a part. Primary car sponsor DLP has committed to returning for next year, but Garfinkel would not divulge whether that contract is for the entire season.

"I don't know that it's just not getting down to economics," Yeley said on the radio program. "I don't know what the books look like at Hall of Fame Racing, but the way it sounds to me is, things could be getting tight, and they needed to make some changes, and they made them."

Foremost among those changes is the addition of Coleman, who has tested for Hall of Fame at Nashville, Pocono, Kentucky and Road Atlanta in addition to his regular Nationwide duties with Curb Motorsports. Boyer, crew chief on the No. 96 car, said Hall of Fame monitored Coleman's Nationwide results and was encouraged by what it saw from the young driver during testing.

"We've watched him pretty closely in the Nationwide garage, and watched how he's done in some of those races, and gone back and looked back at some of the stuff from when he was at Gibbs last year," Boyer said. "We think that's going to help quite a bit. We'll see going forward. We're going to try to get him in as best we can."

That doesn't mean the learning curve won't be a steep one. "Based on other rookies I've seen and other rookies that have gone through this, I think it will be," Boyer said. "Most of them learn it pretty quick. The first race is always kind of a shock. When they drop the green for the first time, it's always a little bit of a shock to them, what restarts are like here. But I think he'll do fine. Once he adjusts to that, it's just a racecar. The only thing is, you're racing against different people."

Yeley believes Coleman should brace himself. "There's going to be a lot of pressure on him," he told Sirius. "I don't know that it's a fair thing to throw someone into the situation he's going to be thrown into, but it is what it is."

Coleman is more than willing to try. When he received the call Wednesday morning asking him if he wanted to run at Michigan, his answer was automatic: yes, sir. "What are you supposed to say to that, when somebody calls you and wants you to accomplish your life's dream?" he asked. "It's a great opportunity."