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Wednesday, April 25
Leffler hopes to please friends, family
By Jason Leffler
Special to ESPN.com
I grew up in Long Beach, Calif., which is about 45 minutes away from the California Speedway, so about 20 of my friends and family members are going to come out to the track Sunday to watch me race. It would really be cool to do well this weekend, so I make it a worthwhile trip for all of them who come out to watch me.
|  | | Rookie Jason Leffler drives a Dodge for Chip Ganassi in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. |
Growing up, my dad was always a big race fan and, somewhere along the way, I got interested in driving. I drove sprint cars at Ascott Park Dirt Track on Saturday nights, and also used to run quarter midgets in the Pomona Valley Quarter Midget Association and USAC races at Ventura and Bakersfield.
My parents, who now live in Palm Desert, Calif., and my brother Chris, who still lives in Long Beach, don't get to see me race that often, so I am glad they can make it out this weekend.
I've actually been in California since Monday night. The No. 01 Cingular Wireless Dodge team tested at Sears Point Raceway, which we come to race at in about two months, on Tuesday and Wednesday. The test went pretty well for us. I had never been on that track, and we've got a brand-new road course car, so I think we obviously learned a lot.
Being a rookie this season in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series has been a learning experience for me. I think that we've got a solid team. Chip Ganassi is a great team owner and (team manager) Andy Graves is a great guy to work with. He is the main reason I took this deal. He's hard on me at times, but that's good, because he's pushing me to the next level. I don't need someone patting me on the back all the time. Andy is a performance-type guy and I am, too.
Matt Chambers, my new crew chief, and I got along real well this past weekend at Talladega Superspeedway. He works well with Andy, and I think that's also going to be a good combination as the season progresses.
I have run at the California Speedway only one time -- last season in a Busch car. We were running close to the top-10 at that race when I got in a wreck. However, I thought I had a real good handle on the car, so I'm really looking forward to going back.
We are going to be running the same car at California that we finished 17th with at Texas, so I think that we've got a good shot at finishing well in front of my hometown crowd.
Drivers, crew chiefs and car owners involved in Dodge's return to the NASCAR Winston Cup Series in 2001 will provide weekly features to ESPN.com throughout the season. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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