DUQUOIN, Ill. – Thirty-six drivers and teams will compete for the Jason Leffler Memorial $8,000 top prize Saturday night as the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets race inside Southern Illinois Center for a special event.
It’s the first time the event in Leffler’s honor will be hosted indoors at the one-fifth-mile clay oval. The previous seven editions of the $8,000-to-win event have taken place at Wayne County Speedway in Wayne City, Ill.
Among the near 40 entries expected to compete is inaugural Jason Leffler Memorial winner Zach Daum, who won the race back in 2013. Daum, the only past event winner in the field, will race for car owner Zack Harris.
Also entered for Saturday’s race is 2013 USAC National Midget champion Christopher Bell, a wintertime Southern Illinois Center midget winner in ’17.
A NASCAR Cup Series winner this past season for Joe Gibbs Racing at Daytona Int’l Speedway’s road course will make his debut for RMS Racing, which won in December at DuQuoin in 2018.
Three-time USAC National Midget feature winner Cannon McIntosh won his very first inside the Southern Illinois Center in March 2019.
Joining him on the Dave Mac Motorsports team for the weekend is Mitchel Moles, who recently earned rookie of the race honors with a third-place finish at the Turkey Night Grand Prix in Ventura, Calif.
Newly minted NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year, Chase Briscoe, has previous midget experience in December at the Southern Illinois Center, but Saturday night will mark his first career Jason Leffler Memorial appearance in his Briscoe Racing ride.
Daniel Robinson, racing for A.J. Felker on Saturday, is the most recent midget winner at the Southern Illinois Center, reigning triumphant in September at The Center.
Making their first Southern Illinois Center appearances are West Coast racers Cory Eliason and Chance Crum for Rudeen Racing.
Eliason has finished second in the All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car standings the last two years and nearly pulled off a USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victory in his first series start at Arizona Speedway in November.
He’s joined by Rudeen teammate and three-time USAC Midwest Regional Midget feature winner this past season in Crum.
Saturday’s lineup presents a complete program for the midgets, with pits opening at 10 a.m. Central. Pill draw is at 11:30 a.m., with the drivers meeting at 2:30 p.m., hot laps at 3 p.m. and opening ceremonies at 5 p.m.
Racing will follow opening ceremonies, utilizing a format similar to the Chili Bowl, with drivers accumulating points based on advancement and finishing position during heats and qualifying races. That will ultimately set the starting lineup for the 50-lap feature.
Micro sprint preliminary events will take place Friday, Dec. 17, at the Southern Illinois Center, featuring Winged Outlaws, Non-Wing Outlaws, A Class Wing, Restrictors and Junior Sprints with hot laps, heat races and semi-features. All main events will be held on Saturday.
On Friday, pits open at 10 a.m. Central, with pill draw at noon, drivers meeting at 4 p.m., hot laps at 4:30 p.m. and racing to follow.
Since it began in 2013, the Leffler Memorial has featured seven different winners in as many editions.
The event honors the life and memory of Leffler, the four-time USAC National driving champion (1997, ’98 and ’99 in a midget and ’98 Silver Crown) who lost his life in a sprint car accident at New Jersey’s Bridgeport Speedway in June 2013.
Ten previous USAC-sanctioned midget events have been held at the Southern Illinois Center, including four in recent years during the month of December.
Those wintertime classics were won by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2015), Tyler Courtney (’16), Christopher Bell (’17) and Thomas Meseraull (’18).
For Jason Leffler Memorial tickets, visit https://sneed-motorsports-llc.ticketleap.com/.
JASON LEFFLER MEMORIAL ENTRY LIST:
08 Cannon McIntosh
08B Austin Barnhill
08m Mitchel Moles
3 Joel Thorpe
3N Jake Neuman
4A Dillon Silverman
4F Chad Frewaldt
5 Chase Briscoe
5K Jordan Kinser
5o Chase Howard
6D Don Dawson
7 Cody Beard
7XT Christopher Bell
11 Kayla Roell
14R Jody RosenboomÂ
15 R.J. Corson
15c Carter Chevalier
20 Derek Doerr
23 Patrick Lawson
26 Cory Eliason
26R Chance Crum
28Q Sean Quinn
35 Tyler Robbins
37 Daniel RobinsonÂ
38 Braydon Cromwell
41 Oliver Akard
51 Will Armitage
53 Sean Robbins
55 Chuck Walker
56 Garrett ThomasÂ
56x Mark Chisholm
72 Sam Johnson
77s Travis Berryhill
81 Rylan Gray
88 Terry Babb
91 Zach Daum