Story by: Langley Austin ~ [email protected]
Hickory, NC(March 25, 2009) ~ Jesse James LeFevers is the happiest Late Model Stock Car racer at Hickory Motor Speedway after one race … he’s leading the points after winning the season opening race in a nail-biter of a race.
LeFevers told me in a previous interview that one of his biggest goals heading into the 2009 season was simple, he just wanted to win a race at Hickory, the legendary track that launched many NASCAR Sprint Cup legends careers. Andy Mercer was the guy that everyone was looking to take over the 3/8 mile bullring in the absence of three-time champion, Andy Loden, but everyone seemed to forget about the kid who emerged from the shadows last season.
LeFevers broke through with five wins in 2008 at Tri-County Motor Speedway, the Friday night track just minutes down the road from Hickory. Nearing the end of the season at Hickory in 2008 he also began to climb the ladder on his favorite track, he started to close in on the two Andy’s, but the season ended before he could get to the top rung on the ladder of success.
“We were getting better last year, I started to close in on those guys, but run out of races,” said LeFevers in a phone interview. “I found my groove last year at Tri-County, but we just didn’t have enough for Hickory.”
That all changed on Saturday, March 21st when after qualifying on the outside pole to Mercer, he battled on the high side from his second place start to win the season opening race. LeFevers and Mercer battled hard in what many people have said was one of the greatest battles in the tracks recent history and when the dust settled, the youngster won out and won his first career race at Hickory.
“We had a great run, the car wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough to hold Mercer off for the win and that’s all that matters. We had one hell of a race, they said it was one of the best ever, but I just know I had a lot of fun and it’s great to come out with the win.”
LeFevers said that Mercer’s confidence helped drive him to race harder and made him want to win even more if that is possible.
“To beat Mercer, the new king was awesome. He was confident and in his pole speech he basically said that his competition had left, but I guess he forgot about us,” continued LeFevers.
“He’s a bottom feeder and that played into my hands having the high lane I could keep him pinched down and keep him from gaining too much momentum while my car just rolled through the corner. It’s too bad my car wasn’t perfect or I could have made this win a little easier.”
LeFevers can chalk that one up, he’s completed the task and now unfortunately for him he’s on to the next goal. The next goal is to win the most races and to stay competitive every week and try to win the championship.
“I don’t like to say we’re running for the championship, but we are, we’re running for the championship at both tracks(Hickory and Tri-County). We’ll be just as tough as Mercer is every week, we were on it this week, but there is no room for mistakes.”
As far as Tri-County Motor Speedway goes, LeFevers five big wins in 2008 will likely make him the favorite over there as well and with the start he’s off to at Tri-County is there any denying that this kid is the real deal?
“I don’t know that we’ll dominate, I just want to run strong every week and I think we’ll be in contention to win a lot of races. Maybe we can pull a Kyle Busch and be dominant, but we’ll have to see about that,” concluded LeFevers.
Kyle Busch … could Jesse James LeFevers become the short track Late Model Stock Car equivalent of Kyle Busch? Well, you heard it here first this winter that this young driver was going to have a breakout season and we don’t mind being the first to tell you that you could be witnessing the birth of another “Kyle Busch”!
