(Author’s Note: Today marks four years since Jason Leffler’s tragic accident at the Bridgeport Speedway in New Jersey. Leffler, driving his #13 sprint car, was competing in a heat race at the track before the feature event when a mechanical failure caused the car to roll over in turn 4 and crash violently, leaving him with fatal injuries. The loss of Leffler was hard for the entire NASCAR community, including myself. For years, I cheered him on in the Great Clips #38 and loved the passion he had not only for NASCAR, but all series of racing he competed in. Before his NASCAR days, he was a three time USAC midget champion and a guy who could drive any type of vehicle at any time, even when he was a full-time driver in NASCAR. While he is no longer with us, Jason Leffler’s legacy in NASCAR is still felt today. In fact, he won Toyota’s first NASCAR Busch Series race ten years ago and helped the manufacturer begin contending in NASCAR. To honor LEFturn, let’s analyze his win in the 2007 Kroger 200 at O’Reilly Raceway Park and discuss Toyota’s first trip to victory lane in a car.)
Jason Leffler used a strategy call during the fifth caution of the race and a power move on Greg Biffle with two laps to go to take Toyota’s first win in a car in NASCAR at O’Reilly Raceway Park. Leffler was a contender throughout the event, but it seemed like pit stops constantly cost the former USAC champion. During the first and fourth caution, Leffler pitted and lost five spots on each stop. In both cases, a secure Top 5 turned into a spot at the back part of the Top 10. After the restart on the fourth caution, Leffler seemed to be making minimal progress and when the fifth caution waved with around 60 laps to go, his crew chief, Todd Lohse, made a strategy move to pit from fifth place. He put on four lap scuffed tires and Leffler returned to the track with no track position, but fresher tires than the field since none of the leaders pitted. Leffler methodically worked his way through the field with the fresher tires and with thirteen laps to go, he muscled past David Reutimann to move into second. A final caution with nine laps to go set up a dash to the finish with Leffler looking to pass Greg Biffle, who had dominated the event. On that final restart, the two drivers battled cleanly, but Leffler passed Biffle for the lead with two laps to go and powered to his second career NASCAR Busch Series victory. In the end, Leffler only led three laps, but he led the last and most important lap to claim a thrilling victory for his Braun Racing team and Toyota. Like usual, ORP supplied NASCAR fans with hard fought short track racing, bumps and crashes, and a fantastic battle for the win. In these five stages of analysis, all those short track elements are presented in a showcase of tonight’s Kroger 200.
Stage 1:
Move of the Race: Leffler Passes Biffle Late with Fresher Tires
Jason Leffler’s win was a historic occurrence, a memorable moment, a clutch finish, and a fantastic battle to the checkered flag, but without three important moves in the race, LEFturn would not have been around to win the event. The first important move of the race for the California driver was the bold strategy call during the fifth caution. As Leffler came down pit road with Deac McCaskill and others, Biffle and the rest of the field stayed on track. Tires are important at short tracks, but track position is an even bigger key. Leffler returned to the track deeper in the field than he had been all race and that meant mixing it up with inexperienced drivers in slower cars. For example, McCaskill, who pitted at the same time, spun and slammed the wall twice within twenty laps of the pit stops and ended his night. Knowing the possibility of having a similar scenario play out, the move to pit road was bold for Leffler’s team, but it began to pay off as he moved through the field quickly. As he moved into the Top 5 with about thirty laps to go, the second important move of the race for Leffler began to take shape. He moved past Carl Edwards for fourth and set his sights on David Reutimann. For several laps, the two battled hard for second place and it looked like Leffler’s tires were beginning to wear out. Yet, he did not give up and banged on Reutimann in turn 2 with thirteen laps to go to take second outright. The move was bold and could have resulted in a tire rub or spin, but Leffler showed he wanted the win. Just laps after he grabbed second, the final caution waved and the bold pass put Leffler on Greg Biffle’s bumper for the final restart. The final move of the race was what clinched the win for Leffler. As he stayed close to Biffle on the final restart, he made the pass for the win with two laps to go in turn 2 and cruised to victory lane for Toyota. With that final move, Jason Leffler made history and showed that performing throughout every lap during the race helps drivers make it to victory lane in NASCAR.
Stage 2:
Driver of the Day: Biffle Dominates the Race, But Comes Up Short at the Finish
Despite finishing second after leading with three laps to go, Greg Biffle was the best driver in the race tonight at ORP. After starting tenth, the 2002 NASCAR Busch Series champion immediately moved to the front of the field. He made his way up to second, but Aric Almirola was dominant in the early part of the event and prevented Biffle from taking the lead. As the halfway point of the race neared, the third caution on lap 95 completely changed the race outlook and strategy. Drivers stayed on track and Biffle took four tires to win the race off pit road while Almirola had a slow stop, dropping him deep in the field for the first time. As the race restarted around the halfway mark, the three drivers that did not pit dropped back and gave Biffle the opportunity to jump to the lead on lap 103. From that point on, he controlled the lead on every restart and sprinted away from the field during green flag runs. Except for a lap after the seventh caution restart where Carl Edwards grabbed the lead, Biffle led every single lap in the second half of the race after lap 102. However, Jason Leffler had a different opinion of how the last three laps should go. He nipped Biffle at the line to lead lap 198 and he took the outright lead to run away in the final two laps. While it might not have been a win, Biffle continued his great record at ORP and grabbed another Top 5 finish for Roush-Fenway Racing in the NASCAR Busch Series.
Stage 3:
Comeback of the Race: Reutimann and Edwards Come from the Back to the Top 5
Since the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series is down the road at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the double duty drivers had to choose whether to qualify for tonight’s NBS race or prepare for the Brickyard 400 on Sunday. While Biffle qualified his car and did not start at the back, Carl Edwards, David Reutimann, J.J. Yeley, David Ragan, and Scott Wimmer decided to stay at IMS and allow other drivers to qualify their cars. Because of that, all five of those drivers started at the back and would have to work their way to the front. Overall, all five drivers performed well in the race, but Reutimann and Edwards were the most outstanding in coming back from deep starts in the field to grab Top 5’s. It was not easy to work through the field on a small short track like ORP, but Edwards and Reutimann were both in the Top 10 by lap 60 of the 200-lap event. With the pit stops under the fourth caution around lap 96, both drivers came off pit road in the Top 5 and managed to stay there in the successive restarts with Edwards running in front of Reutimann. Edwards even gave Biffle a battle for the lead around lap 168, but fell back to third after Reutimann managed to pass him for second. Ultimately, Reutimann fell to third in the hard battle with Leffler and finished there while Edwards came home with a fourth-place finish. Yet, it was impressive for both drivers to move from the back to take Top 5’s, especially Edwards. He not only battled from the back, but raced with a dislocated thumb after crashing in a dirt late model at I-80 Speedway last Sunday during the Cup Series off weekend. Battling from the back at a short track is an absolute challenge, but Reutimann and Edwards managed the adversity to bring home solid finishes.
Stage 4:
Rookie Mistake: Lagasse Jr. and Coleman Crash in an Avoidable Incident
Scott Lagasse Jr. and Brad Coleman are both young compared to some veterans in the NASCAR Busch Series, but they are in excellent equipment to race in. Lagasse made his second start of the 2007 NBS season with Chip Ganassi Racing tonight after a few races in the Craftsman Truck Series with Bobby Hamilton Racing last year and a few races with Armando Fitz’s team in 2005 in the Busch Series. Coleman is a development driver with Joe Gibbs Racing and he has been impressive in his nine NBS starts already this season. Tonight at ORP looked to be another chance for the two drivers to prove themselves and they were running pretty good early. Coleman started ninth and Lagasse started 12th and while they dropped positions in the first couple runs of the race, they still maintained Top 15 positions coming up to lap 70. As they raced side by side on lap 69, though, their promising races took a wrong turn. Lagasse drove underneath Coleman through turns 3 and 4 for the 15th place position. As they exited turn 4, Lagasse drove up the track and was not aware Coleman was still there. The two made contact and Lagasse turned across Coleman’s nose and dragged his front end along the wall while Coleman piled into the outside wall. They both rode along the outside wall down the frontstretch and came to a stop at the entrance of turn 1 with heavy damage. They did drive away, however, but they would need extensive repairs. Coleman ended up losing nine laps in the garage repairing his Chevrolet and Lagasse lost around 35 repairing his badly damaged Dodge. Honestly, it was an avoidable accident for both drivers. Lagasse should have been more aware of where Coleman was and he should have been warned by his spotter while Coleman needed to back out when he saw Lagasse moving up the track. In the end, both rookie drivers were left with battered racecars and bad finishes after an avoidable mistake.
Stage 5:
Safety Showcase: Pit Road Improvements Prevent Significant injury for Two Crewmen
While ORP does not have much room on the track, the pit road is even narrower. Because of that, pit crews are forced to do their jobs in cramped pit stalls with fast stock cars driving around them looking to keep their track position with quick stops. Unfortunately, that leads to accidents and safety becomes crucially important for all crewmen. During tonight’s race, two incidents on pit road occurred and offered chances for NASCAR to highlight its pit road innovations. During the first caution, Ron Hornaday Jr. was one of only a few drivers to come down pit lane as the leaders stayed on track. He came to a stop in his box and his crew came off the wall just as Richard Johns went to pass by. While setting up his entrance, Johns clipped Hornaday’s front tire carrier and sent him up in the air while the tire rolled onto the top of Johns’s racecar. Hornaday’s crew completed the stop while the front tire carrier was brought to medical attention in the care center. While the situation looked bad as it happened live, the crew member was left with only a cut nose and a broken toe despite falling hard to the ground. Later in the event, as teams pitted during the fourth caution, Landon Cassill exited his pit box right in front of Josh Wise’s. Wise had just left his box and the crew had left the rear air gun laying in the stall. As Cassill drove through, he pulled the cord and gun, which whipped into Wise’s crew and sent them sprawling onto the concrete pit road. Only one of the crewmen needed significant medical attention as his leg was hurt in the incident, but it could have been much worse. Both pit road accidents show just how hard NASCAR has worked to make pit road safe in such a tense environment. In just the past couple of years, NASCAR has mandated fireproof equipment for all crewmen and made helmets a priority as well. The continued enforcement of NASCAR’s pit road speed has also made the pit lane safer for guys who must be perfect for thirteen seconds or less. By instituting safety features like these, NASCAR has limited the severe injuries to crewmen and helped make their jobs easier to perform.
Next week, the NASCAR Busch Series heads to a completely different track compared to O’Reilly Raceway Park. The series heads north of the U.S. border for the inaugural running of the NBS at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve road course in Montreal. The road course is a little over two miles while ORP is only five eights of a mile, which is an extreme contrast over two weeks of races. However, the two types of tracks share similarities. Short tracks and road courses share strategy calls, beating and banging for position, and plenty of opportunities for good races to turn bad for the field. In addition to the track storylines, there are driver storylines heading into the event. Carl Edwards has a substantial lead in the points after tonight’s race at ORP, but a road course race could lead to a good many points lost if he does not drive a careful race. Road course races always bring out road course ringers like Boris Said and Ron Fellows to the track, which could lead to intense battles between series regulars and right turn experts. Jason Leffler looks to ride his momentum from tonight’s victory to a second consecutive NBS victory at Montreal, but he will have to fight hard to return to victory lane. As the NASCAR Busch Series season heads into the final stretch, drivers are looking to gain wins and good finishes to continue their opportunities in 2008. Tonight’s race at ORP showed how intense the entire NBS field is willing to be to compete and win, which led to a night of battling and a historic victory for Jason Leffler.
(More Stats Down Below!)
Cautions:
1st Caution: Lap 14- Landon Cassill spun and slammed the outside wall in turn 1 after a bump from Steve Wallace.
2nd Caution: Lap 44- David Ragan spun and slammed into the outside wall in turn 3 after contact with Josh Wise.
3rd Caution: Lap 69- Scott Lagasse Jr. drove up the track on Brad Coleman exiting turn 4, causing the two drivers to slam the outside wall and damage their cars significantly.
4th Caution: Lap 96- Brett Rowe had trouble in turn 3 and slammed the outside wall.
5th Caution: Lap 140- Richard Johns spun exiting turn 2, but kept his car off the inside wall and drove away.
6th Caution: Lap 144- Deac McCaskill spun and slammed the outside wall in turn 3 with his left rear after a bump in traffic.
7th Caution: Lap 156- Deac McCaskill spun for a second straight caution and slammed the outside wall even harder with his driver’s side. The car caught fire, but he climbed out safely despite a destroyed race car.
8th Caution: Lap 192- Josh Wise spun down the frontstretch after having problems exiting turn 4.
Lucky Dogs:
1st Caution: Jason White
2nd Caution: Richard Johns
3rd Caution: David Ragan
4th Caution: Jason White
5th Caution: Danny O’Quinn Jr.
6th Caution: Kyle Krisiloff
7th Caution: Brian Keselowski
8th Caution: None
Top 5 Finishers:
1st: Jason Leffler
2nd: Greg Biffle
3rd: David Reutimann
4th: Carl Edwards
5th: Ron Hornaday Jr.
Notables Not in Top 5:
6th: Aric Almirola
10th: Brad Keselowski
13th: Bobby Hamilton Jr.
16th: J.J. Yeley
17th: Steve Wallace
18th: David Ragan
30th: Landon Cassill
31st: Brad Coleman
32nd: Marcos Ambrose
Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Statistics:
http://racing-reference.info/race/2007_Kroger_200_Benefiting_Riley_Hospital_for_Children/B
-Image:
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2013/06/13/jason-leffler-photo-timeline.html
-Full Race:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTz4L02zyGA
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