Jason Leffler

Jason Leffler
Jason Leffler
	Leffler at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in 2008
Born	Jason Charles Leffler; September 16, 1975; Long Beach, California
Died	June 12, 2013 (aged 37); Bridgeport, New Jersey
Cause of death	Blunt force neck injury from racing accident
Height	5 ft 3 in (1.60 m)
Weight	130 lb (59 kg)
Achievements	1997, 1998, 1999 USAC National Midget champion ; 1998 USAC Silver Crown champion
Awards	2003 inductee, National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame
NASCAR Cup Series career
	73 races run over 9 years
2013 position	52nd
Best finish	37th (2001)
First race	2001 Daytona 500 (Daytona)
Last race	2013 Party in the Poconos 400 (Pocono)
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
	294 races run over 12 years
Best finish	3rd (2007)
First race	1999 Kroger 200 (IRP)
Last race	2012 Great Clips 200 (Phoenix)
First win	2004 Federated Auto Parts 300 (Nashville)
Last win	2007 Kroger 200 (IRP)
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
	56 races run over 7 years
Best finish	4th (2002)
First race	2000 Power Stroke 200 (IRP)
Last race	2012 Ford EcoBoost 200 (Homestead)
First win	2003 MBNA Armed Forces Family 200 (Dover)
IndyCar Series career
	3 races run over 2 years
Best finish	30th (2000)
First race	1999 Transworld Diversified Services 200 (Disney)
Last race	2000 Indianapolis 500 (Indy)

Jason Charles Leffler (September 16, 1975 – June 12, 2013) was an American professional open-wheel and stock car racing driver. Leffler began racing in the open-wheel ranks, competing in the 2000 Indianapolis 500 before moving to primarily NASCAR competition. He died from injuries sustained in a 410 sprint car race at Bridgeport Speedway in Bridgeport, New Jersey.

Racing career

Open wheel career

Leffler began his career racing midget cars in the USAC series, where he won three consecutive midget championships from 1997 and 1999, as well as the Silver Crown series championship in 1998. He was the third driver to win three consecutive midget car championships.^[1] He won the Hut Hundred and Belleville Nationals in 1997, and the Turkey Night Grand Prix and Copper Classic in 1999.^[1] He won his second Turkey Night Grand Prix in 2005.

Roger Penske met Leffler at the 1998 Hut 100. Leffler's success also caught the attention of Joe Gibbs Racing, a team which had previously signed Tony Stewart from the USAC ranks. Leffler joined the team in 1999 and made four starts in the Busch Series during the season with moderate success. At the same time, he also started a race in the Indy Racing League at Walt Disney World Speedway in the No. 5 Treadway Racing machine, but finished last after crashing early in the race.

Leffler made his first, and only, start in the Indianapolis 500 in 2000. This effort was put forth by Treadway Racing with backing from Roger Penske's United Auto group. Leffler qualified in the 17th position, which was also where he finished.

NASCAR career

During the 2000 season, Leffler drove full-time for the No. 18 MBNA sponsored Joe Gibbs Racing team in the Busch Series. He finished twentieth in the final standings, earned three pole positions during the year, and finished second at Phoenix. He also made two IRL starts, among them a start for Treadway in the Indianapolis 500 where he started and finished seventeenth. After that season he moved up to the Winston Cup Series to become the driver of the #01 Cingular Wireless Dodge for Chip Ganassi Racing as the permanent replacement for Kenny Irwin, Jr., who was killed in a practice crash while driving for the same team at New Hampshire in 2000. Leffler's car retained sponsorship from BellSouth through its Cingular Wireless property, and with Ganassi's purchase of a stake in Felix Sabates' former team came a switch in manufacturer as Leffler became one of several drivers to drive Dodge Intrepids in the brand's return to NASCAR. It was a controversial decision, as Leffler performed poorly the season prior in excellent Joe Gibbs equipment in the Busch series. During his inaugural Cup season, he had only one top 10 finish and four failures to qualify. He was, however, the inaugural pole setter at Kansas Speedway. After his 37th-place finish in the 2001 championship, Ganassi replaced him with Jimmy Spencer for the 2002 season and remade Leffler's former car into the #41 Target Dodge.

Leffler joined Ultra Motorsports in 2002 to drive the #2 Carquest/Team ASE Dodge Ram in place of the departed Scott Riggs and had great success early on with the team. In his first year, he tied a single season Craftsman Truck Series record by scoring eight pole positions, and qualified no worse than eighth at any race during the season. Despite not winning a race, he had six second-place finishes and a fourth-place finish in the championship. He also won the Night Before the 500 midget race and got to drive Ultra's #7 car in the final two races of the Cup Series season after the team fired Casey Atwood. Leffler finally broke through in 2003 when he scored his first career victory at Dover.

Despite the success, Leffler ended up losing his ride at Ultra in controversial fashion. Haas CNC Racing, which was fielding its first full-time Cup Series team, had fired its driver Jack Sprague after the Tropicana 400. Team owner Gene Haas named John Andretti as his replacement, but he was unavailable for the Brickyard 400 due to a prior commitment with Dale Earnhardt, Inc.. Haas approached Leffler to drive the #0 NetZero Pontiac Grand Prix in the race and he agreed to do so. Ultra, which had warned Leffler that such a move would be in violation of his contract, responded by firing him.

Leffler made ten starts in the #0, becoming the permanent driver after the Sirius Satellite Radio at the Glen. The team then signed Ward Burton away from Bill Davis Racing to take over the car, and he joined the team before the season was over to get a head start. Leffler was moved to the #00 Haas Automation car in the Busch Series for the remainder of 2003, with the idea that he would remain there for 2004. At Nashville Superspeedway in 2004, Leffler scored his first career Busch Series victory. He was running third in the points when the team released him from his contract. He ended up finishing twelfth in the championship despite missing the last seven races.

Shortly after his dismissal, Leffler signed a deal to re-join Joe Gibbs Racing for 2005, taking over a newly created Cup team sponsored by FedEx. The No. 11 Chevrolet was regularly outside of the top 35 in points, meaning that it was not guaranteed a starting spot for all races; Leffler was unable to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600 because of it. He was replaced by Terry Labonte for the two road-course races and, eventually, was fired from JGR after nineteen starts in which he failed to record a top ten finish. He was replaced by a mix of Labonte and JGR developmental drivers J.J. Yeley and Denny Hamlin, the latter of whom took over the car full-time the following season.

While racing with Gibbs, Leffler briefly raced with Braun Racing in the Busch Series, a team that had lost their regular driver, Shane Hmiel, to a drug suspension. After leaving Gibbs, Leffler joined Braun Racing on a full-time basis for the remainder of the season. Leffler had scored four top ten finishes with Braun in nine starts for the team.

For the 2006 season, Leffler was signed to return to Braun Racing to drive the No. 32 Chevrolet. The team carried sponsorships from Lucas Oil, Fraternal Order of Eagles, and ABF U-Pack Moving. The No. 32 team became the No. 38 team with sponsorship from Great Clips after it merged with Akins Motorsports. Jason also attempted to qualify for the second to last race of the chase at Phoenix in the No. 71 for Braun Racing but failed to qualify.

During the 2007 season, Leffler won the pole for the Winn-Dixie 250 at Daytona International Speedway. He finished ninth. Leffler would make NASCAR history July 28, 2007 as he passed Greg Biffle with two laps remaining to win the Busch Series Kroger 200 at O'Reilly Raceway Park. The win marked the first race victory for a Toyota Camry in Busch Series competition, and the first win for a foreign manufacturer in a top-tier NASCAR series since Al Keller won in a Jaguar in 1954. The win also marked Leffler's second career Busch Series win and first win since the 2004 season. Leffler returned to Sprint Cup in 2008 for a few races in the No. 70 Haas CNC Chevy while driving full-time for Braun Racing's No. 38 Toyota Camry.

In 2009 at the July Daytona race weekend it was announced that the No. 38 Toyota car would be shared with Kasey Kahne for the 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series season. Leffler remained in the Great Clips Toyota in 2010 and 2011. In late 2011 he was informed that he was free to pursue other opportunities for the 2012 season.

On January 9, 2012, Kyle Busch Motorsports announced that Leffler would drive the No. 18 truck for fourteen races with sponsorship from Dollar General.^[2] However, strings of bad luck and poor finishes plagued the team, and Leffler was released on August 14.^[3]

Leffler also returned to the Cup Series in 2012, driving for Robinson-Blakeney Racing at Watkins Glen International,^[4] and for Humphrey Smith Racing at Michigan International Speedway.^[5]

Leffler made a single Cup Series start in 2013, driving Humphrey Smith Racing's No. 19 Toyota Camry at Pocono Raceway in early June, three days before his death; he started and parked, finishing 43rd in the event.^[6]

Death

On June 12, 2013 at 8:30 PM, Leffler was involved in a crash during a 410 sprint car heat race at the 5⁄8-mile (1.0 km) Bridgeport Speedway in Logan Township, New Jersey.^[7] Running second with a few laps left, his car suffered a front suspension failure, causing it to crash into a wall and flip several times.^[8]

Leffler instantly lost consciousness in the accident. When it was found that Leffler was not breathing, the rest of the race was cancelled and victory lane ceremonies did not take place. He was airlifted by helicopter to Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Chester, Pennsylvania,^[9] where he was pronounced dead at 9:00 PM EDT, 30 minutes after the accident.^[10] An autopsy report stated that the cause of death was a severe blunt force neck and backbone injury.^[11]

After his death, many drivers and racing associations such as NASCAR and IndyCar made statements on the death and gave their condolences. NASCAR drivers competing in the 2013 Quicken Loans 400 had special stickers placed on their cars in honor of Leffler. Denny Hamlin, who replaced Leffler in the No. 11 FedEx Toyota in late 2005 had his car repainted to resemble Leffler's livery.^[12]

Personal life

Leffler was the son of Charles and Patricia Leffler. Leffler had a son, Charlie Dean, with Alison East, who was five years old at the time of his death. He shared his life with live-in girlfriend Julianna Patterson; they resided in North Carolina. Leffler was engaged at the time of his death to Julianna Patterson.^{[citation needed]}

Career awards

Leffler was inducted into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2003. He had 18 national championship midget car wins at that time.^[1]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Sprint Cup Series

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	NSCC	Pts
2001	Chip Ganassi Racing	01	Dodge	DAY 34	CAR 33	LVS 28	ATL 32	DAR 39	BRI DNQ	TEX 17	MAR DNQ	TAL 20	CAL 18	RCH 26	CLT 30	DOV 13	MCH 19	POC 41		DAY 24	CHI 24	NHA 27	POC 21	IND 26	GLN	MCH 24	BRI 30	DAR 43	RCH 28	DOV DNQ	KAN 28	CLT 43	MAR 37	TAL 15	PHO 41	CAR 30	HOM 10	ATL DNQ	NHA 30	37th	2413
2001	Chip Ganassi Racing	04	Dodge																SON DNQ																					37th	2413
2002	Ultra Motorsports	7	Dodge	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	MAR	TAL	CAL	RCH	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	DAY	CHI	NHA	POC	IND	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	NHA	DOV	KAN	TAL	CLT	MAR	ATL	CAR	PHO 31	HOM 35	63rd	128
2003	Haas CNC Racing	0	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	TAL	MAR	CAL	RCH	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	DAY	CHI	NHA	POC	IND 33	GLN	MCH 35	BRI 26	DAR 26	RCH 28	NHA 27	DOV 25	TAL DNQ	KAN 30	CLT 35	MAR 27	ATL	PHO	CAR	HOM	47th	764
2004	Haas CNC Racing	60	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	BRI	TEX	MAR	TAL	CAL	RCH	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	DAY	CHI	NHA	POC	IND 43	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	NHA	DOV	TAL	KAN	CLT	MAR	ATL	PHO	DAR	HOM	88th	34
2005	Joe Gibbs Racing	11	Chevy	DAY 36	CAL 37	LVS 22	ATL 25	BRI 38	MAR 12	TEX 36	PHO 29	TAL 26	DAR 38	RCH 25	CLT DNQ	DOV 20	POC 40	MCH 20	SON	DAY 18	CHI 20	NHA 24	POC 24	IND 33	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	NHA	DOV	TAL	KAN	CLT	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM	38th	1538
2006	Braun Racing	71	Chevy	DAY	CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI	MAR	TEX	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	DAY	CHI	NHA	POC	IND	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	NHA	DOV	KAN	TAL	CLT	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO DNQ	HOM	NA	-
2008	Haas CNC Racing	70	Chevy	DAY	CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI	MAR	TEX	PHO	TAL	RCH	DAR	CLT	DOV DNQ	POC 40	MCH DNQ	SON	NHA	DAY	CHI 27	IND 32	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	CAL	RCH	NHA	DOV	KAN	TAL	CLT	MAR	ATL	TEX	PHO	HOM	59th	192
2010	Braun Racing	32	Toyota	DAY	CAL	LVS	ATL	BRI	MAR	PHO	TEX	TAL	RCH	DAR	DOV	CLT	POC	MCH	SON	NHA	DAY	CHI	IND	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	ATL DNQ	RCH 43	NHA	DOV									70th	68
2010	Prism Motorsports	66	Toyota																													KAN DNQ	CAL 43	CLT DNQ	MAR	TAL	TEX	PHO DNQ	HOM	70th	68
2012	Robinson-Blakeney Racing	49	Toyota	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	MAR	TEX	KAN	RCH	TAL	DAR	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	SON	KEN	DAY	NHA	IND	POC	GLN 35		BRI 31	ATL 38	RCH	CHI DNQ	NHA DNQ	DOV DNQ	TAL	CLT	KAN	MAR	TEX			71st	0¹
	Humphrey Smith Racing	19	Ford																							MCH 43
		91	Chevy																																			PHO 42
		91	Toyota																																				HOM DNQ
2013		19	Toyota	DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	MAR	TEX	KAN	RCH	TAL	DAR	CLT	DOV	POC 43	MCH	SON	KEN	DAY	NHA	IND	POC	GLN	MCH	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	NHA	DOV	KAN	CLT	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO	HOM	52nd	1

Daytona 500

Year	Team	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
2001	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dodge	15	34
2005	Joe Gibbs Racing	Chevrolet	40	36

Nationwide Series

NASCAR Nationwide Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	NNSC	Pts
1999	Joe Gibbs Racing	18	Pontiac	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	TEX	NSV	BRI	TAL	CAL	NHA	RCH	NZH	CLT	DOV	SBO	GLN	MLW	MYB	PPR	GTY	IRP 41	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH 22	DOV DNQ	CLT	CAR 24	MEM 20	PHO	HOM				74th	331
2000	Joe Gibbs Racing	18	Pontiac	DAY 20	CAR 19	LVS 28	ATL DNQ	DAR 37	BRI 25	TEX 22	NSV 21	TAL 28	CAL 39	RCH 35	NHA 24	CLT 21	DOV 28	SBO 32	MYB 7	GLN 28	MLW 15	NZH 15	PPR 24	GTY 15	IRP 4	MCH 41	BRI 36	DAR 28	RCH 15	DOV 10	CLT 36	CAR 30	MEM 16	PHO 2	HOM 12				20th	2956
2003	Haas CNC Racing	00	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	DAR	BRI	TEX	TAL	NSH	CAL	RCH	GTY	NZH	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	DAY	CHI	NHA	PPR	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	KAN 16	CLT 11	MEM	ATL 22	PHO 11	CAR 22	HOM 4		52nd	739
2004	Haas CNC Racing	00	Chevy	DAY 8	CAR 32	LVS 22	DAR 14	BRI 32	TEX 6	NSH 9	TAL 5	CAL 34	GTY 6	RCH 11	NZH 7	CLT 4	DOV 14	NSH 1^*	KEN 7	MLW 15	DAY 13	CHI 7	NHA 3	PPR 3	IRP 3	MCH 7	BRI 17	CAL 10	RCH 4	DOV 4	KAN	CLT	MEM	ATL	PHO	DAR	HOM		12th	3661
2005	Braun Racing	32	Chevy	DAY	CAL	MXC	LVS	ATL	NSH	BRI	TEX	PHO	TAL	DAR	RCH	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN	MLW	DAY 9	CHI 23	NHA 29	PPR	GTY 18	IRP	GLN	MCH 14	BRI 20	CAL 7	RCH 5	DOV 3	KAN 19	CLT 6	MEM 24	TEX 8	PHO 7	HOM 27	30th	1829
2006		32		DAY 6	CAL 22	MXC 17	LVS 11	ATL 6	BRI 32	TEX 17	NSH 35	PHO 22^*																											13th	3554
2006		38											TAL 18	RCH 24	DAR 10	CLT 18	DOV 34	NSH 43	KEN 40	MLW 4	DAY 18	CHI 19	NHA 14	MAR 8	GTY 33	IRP 19	GLN 35	MCH 13	BRI 5	CAL 24	RCH 20	DOV 5	KAN 31	CLT 28	MEM 34	TEX 43	PHO 14	HOM 19	13th	3554
2007			Toyota	DAY 22	CAL 38	MXC 6	LVS 37	ATL 41	BRI 34	NSH 4	TEX 13	PHO 18	TAL 35	RCH 37	DAR 6	CLT 31	DOV 11	NSH 3	KEN 14	MLW 3	NHA 12	DAY 9	CHI 33	GTY 4	IRP 1	CGV 26	GLN 27	MCH 12	BRI 2^*	CAL 14	RCH 11	DOV 30	KAN 21	CLT 19	MEM 5	TEX 12	PHO 8	HOM 14	3rd	3996
2008				DAY 19	CAL 11	LVS 39	ATL 8	BRI 6	NSH 13	TEX 9	PHO 14	MXC 21	TAL 4	RCH 16	DAR 9	CLT 32	DOV 27	NSH 26	KEN 16	MLW 10	NHA 32	DAY 23	CHI 27	GTY 4	IRP 16	CGV 7	GLN 8	MCH 8	BRI 15	CAL 26	RCH 30	DOV 7	KAN 8	CLT 18	MEM 12	TEX 17	PHO 25	HOM 4	9th	4086
2009				DAY 33	CAL 11	LVS 4	BRI 10	TEX 13	NSH 6	PHO 2	TAL 6	RCH 10	DAR 2	CLT 6	DOV 8	NSH 5	KEN 6	MLW 10	NHA 10	DAY 19	CHI 4	GTY 14	IRP 8	IOW 3	GLN 15	MCH 11	BRI 6	CGV 29	ATL 20	RCH 32	DOV 6	KAN 11	CAL 30	CLT 32	MEM 3	TEX 3	PHO 27	HOM 18	4th	4540
2010		10		DAY 33			BRI 9						DAR 5	DOV 5	CLT 7												BRI 2		ATL 7										9th	3941
		38			CAL 14	LVS 12		NSH 39	PHO 19	TEX 12	TAL 41	RCH 16				NSH 34	KEN 33	ROA 8	NHA 14	DAY 14	CHI 5	GTY 23	IRP 30	IOW 3	GLN 35	MCH 34		CGV 21		RCH 14
	Turner Motorsports	38																													DOV 8	KAN 10	CAL 37	CLT 15	GTY 4	TEX 6	PHO 33
		10																																				HOM 10
2011		30	Chevy	DAY 6			BRI 8		TEX 15				DAR 9															BRI 7	ATL 9			DOV 19		CLT 11					6th	1028
2011		38			PHO 11	LVS 9		CAL 11		TAL 15	NSH 15	RCH 10		DOV 11	IOW 33	CLT 21	CHI 5	MCH 10	ROA 20	DAY 2	KEN 13	NHA 30	NSH 18	IRP 6	IOW 13	GLN 18	CGV 9			RCH 29	CHI 12		KAN 13		TEX 15	PHO 26	HOM 12		6th	1028
2012		30		DAY	PHO	LVS	BRI	CAL	TEX	RCH	TAL	DAR	IOW	CLT	DOV	MCH	ROA	KEN	DAY	NHA	CHI	IND	IOW 8	GLN	CGV	BRI	ATL	RCH	CHI	KEN	DOV	CLT	KAN	TEX	PHO 12	HOM			120th	0¹

Camping World Truck Series

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	NCWTC	Pts
2000	Ultra Motorsports	5	Ford	DAY	HOM	PHO	MMR	MAR	PIR	GTY	MEM	PPR	EVG	TEX	KEN	GLN	MLW	NHA	NZH	MCH	IRP 29	NSV	CIC	RCH	DOV	TEX	CAL		103rd	76
2002	Ultra Motorsports	2	Dodge	DAY 11	DAR 30	MAR 6	GTY 2	PPR 2^*	DOV 9	TEX 27	MEM 4	MLW 2	KAN 4	KEN 5	NHA 27	MCH 2	IRP 2	NSH 28	RCH 12^*	TEX 8	SBO 9	LVS 5	CAL 2	PHO 16	HOM 3				4th	3156
2003	Ultra Motorsports	2	Dodge	DAY 30	DAR 6	MMR 7	MAR 11	CLT 21	DOV 1	TEX 27	MEM 6	MLW 2	KAN 7	KEN 5	GTW 2	MCH 4	IRP 15	NSH 24	BRI 9	RCH	NHA	CAL	LVS	SBO	TEX	MAR	PHO	HOM	16th	2209
2004	Morgan-Dollar Motorsports	47	Chevy	DAY	ATL	MAR	MFD	CLT	DOV	TEX	MEM	MLW	KAN	KEN	GTW	MCH	IRP	NSH	BRI	RCH	NHA	LVS	CAL	TEX	MAR	PHO	DAR 24	HOM	95th	91
2007	Red Horse Racing	1	Toyota	DAY	CAL	ATL	MAR	KAN	CLT	MFD	DOV	TEX	MCH	MLW	MEM	KEN	IRP	NSH	BRI	GTW	NHA	LVS	TAL 4	MAR 23	ATL	TEX 9	PHO 4	HOM 5	41st	707
2009	Stringer Motorsports	90	Toyota	DAY	CAL	ATL	MAR	KAN	CLT	DOV	TEX	MCH	MLW 29	MEM	KEN	IRP	NSH	BRI	CHI	IOW	GTW	NHA	LVS	MAR	TAL	TEX	PHO	HOM	99th	76
2012	Kyle Busch Motorsports	18	Toyota	DAY 36	MAR 8	CAR 34	KAN 18	CLT 4	DOV	TEX 6	KEN 8	IOW 6	CHI 8	POC	MCH	BRI	ATL	IOW	KEN	LVS	TAL	MAR	TEX	PHO					23rd	294
2012	Hillman Racing	27	Chevy																						HOM 19				23rd	294

¹ Ineligible for series points

ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series