Joe Gibbs has never been a one-hit wonder. Between 1982 and 1992 he coached the Washington Redskins to four Super Bowl appearances, winning the big game three times. Now he's attempting to achieve with his race team what he did with his football squad -- turn it into a perennial contender, if not a dynasty.

As he did with his NFL program, Gibbs is building depth into his racing team. Earlier this week it was announced that Joe Gibbs Racing -- winner of two NASCAR Cup titles in the last four seasons -- had signed 27-year old United States Auto Club (USAC) standout J.J. Yeley to a multi-year contract.

Yeley will make the transition from the open-wheel ranks to stock cars where he will run an A-B-C schedule in '04 consisting of seven to eight ARCA races, 10-12 NASCAR Busch Series races and up to three Nextel Cup races.

To a certain extent Gibbs may feel like he just drafted the Heisman Trophy winner. This season Yeley became just the second driver to earn USAC's Triple Crown, winning the Sprint, Midget and Silver Crown titles in the same season. Tony Stewart accomplished the feat in 1995, and next season the two will be teammates.

"I think the thing that impressed us was it's almost the identical background of Tony Stewart," said Gibbs, who signed Stewart to a Busch Series contract in 1997.

Yeley has scored 24 USAC wins this season, breaking the previous record of 19 set by A.J. Foyt in 1961 and later tied by Sleepy Trip (1988) and Jay Drake (2000).

Stewart has been a large part of Yeley's success. He is the owner of Yeley's Sprint car and co-owner of his Silver Crown entry.

"I've got a lot of respect for J.J. and truly believe he's gonna be as good of a champion and win as many races as I've won in Winston Cup cars in my career," added Stewart, winner of 17 NASCAR Cup events and the 2002 Winston Cup championship.

	J.J. Yeley's ties to Tony Stewart will carry from USAC cars to stock cars.

Yeley's jump to NASCAR is a move that some open-wheel purists see as part of a disturbing trend. Since 1991 the sanctioning body, which had traditionally been a breeding ground for Indy Car drivers, has lost Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, Jason Leffler, Mike Bliss, Stewart and now Yeley to the stock-car ranks.

"Right now I think stock cars are the best fit for a guy coming from USAC," explained Yeley. "You know a lot of people think that because you run open wheel you should go Indy Car racing. And 50 years ago that might have been the case, but technology has surpassed what we do in USAC racing and to make that jump (to stock cars) now is a lot easier."

As an IRL rookie in 1998, Yeley did try his hand at Indy Car racing but achieved only limited success. Since then, despite his USAC achievements, there have been few serious offers from that end of the motorsports spectrum.

"There just doesn't seem to be the interest in trying to get the top talent from USAC like they used to," Yeley said. "I know that when (the IRL) was started they were trying to get your local oval-track drivers into the series and Billy Boat got the chance, and I got the chance. A lot of guys did who probably wouldn't have gotten the chance to run in Indy cars. But the last three years it's really fallen off to where they just haven't seemed to show the interest."

So for Yeley the decision was this: either follow the unwritten rules of his racing heritage or trace the steps of contemporary racing stars Gordon, Newman and Stewart. Neither path guarantees success, but Yeley believes he has more control over his destiny in NASCAR.

"I think as a race car driver, in stock cars you're a bigger piece of what it takes to win races," Yeley said. "In the IRL, if you don't have a good engineer, the most horsepower, no matter how good a race car driver you are, you're gonna get beat."

With that comes responsibility and pressure to perform. But before Yeley can be expected to excel in NASCAR, he must learn how to drive a car that is double the weight of his USAC machines and uses radial tires that will give him a completely different feel than what he's used to.

"Once he finds what the edge is with the tire, I think the learning curve will be accelerated pretty drastically," Stewart said.

Stewart is the perfect coach for Yeley. He made the same transition and remembers the self-doubt.

"I can tell you what was going through my mind when I was in the position he's in, and that's just wondering if you're gonna be successful doing what he's getting ready to start doing," Stewart said.

Statistically it's obvious Yeley has tremendous potential. But Gibbs says he has an intangible quality that may help him develop quicker than your average rookie.

"He has to a certain extent what I call athletic arrogance," said Gibbs. "He thinks he belongs. He's been there. He's won."

The question now is, can he live up to the accomplishments of his USAC predecessors Gordon, Newman and Stewart?

Yeley believes he can.

"If I'm as good as I think I am, or hope to be, and the amount of effort I'm gonna give it, I think I can accomplish the same things that those guys have done," he said.

Lofty goals -- all those guys have done is win five Winston Cup championships and 89 races since 1994. If Yeley can add to these stats, he's going to be fun to watch and Joe Gibbs Racing is going to be in good shape for a long time.

Mike Massaro covers NASCAR for ESPN and ESPN.com.