Only Yesterday: Jason Leffler Delivers Toyota Its First O’Reilly Series Win

Toyota Racing Development, the racing arm of the Toyota Motor Corporation, has a lengthy history of motorsports success but was absent from NASCAR until 2004. The manufacturer made its debut that season with teams in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and had some early success. 

Travis Kvapil, father of current JR Motorsports driver Carson Kvapil, was the first to put a Toyota in victory lane. Amusingly, that 2004 win came at Michigan International Speedway, the home track for the proverbial “Big Three” American automakers.

Then, Todd Bodine brought home the first driver championship for the Japanese manufacturer in 2006. The first three seasons of participating in NASCAR brought Toyota 20 Truck Series wins. In 2007, it made the move to both the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series as well as the NASCAR Cup Series. 

It was absolutely not a smooth transition. 

At first, the manufacturer struggled mightily in Cup without an established flagship team. The fleet of 10 drivers combined to manage just a single top-five finish, a fifth by Brian Vickers at the Coca-Cola 600 in May. Red Bull Racing, Vickers’ team and arguably the best of the Toyotas, struggled just to qualify for races, as both its cars missed the show for more than a dozen races.

Things were a little better for the NOAPS teams. Not that there were many of them. Only two full-time teams opted to field Toyotas in that first year, with longtime Dodge outfit Braun Racing making the switch with its two-car operation. In addition to its Cup program, Michael Waltrip Racing ran the full schedule with David Reutimann as the only other regular competitor in a Toyota.

But the Braun cars showed flashes of potential quickly. Dave Blaney finished second in the first race of the year at Daytona International Speedway, while the Cup operation could only get half of its eight cars to even qualify for the 2007 Daytona 500.

As the year progressed, Blaney would add a pair of thirds, one at Nashville Superspeedway and the other in the return to Daytona in July. Meanwhile, teammate Jason Leffler had four top fives and a pole in that summer Daytona event. Reutimann was competitive as well, finishing just ahead of Blaney in second at Nashville.

None of the drivers was lighting the world on fire but it didn’t seem outlandish to speculate that one or more of them might win. 

Then, on a summer night in the shadow of the most historic racing facility in the United States, Toyota made its debut in another place: a NASCAR stock car victory lane.

Before the NOAPS graced the hallowed grounds at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it could be found at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in nearby Clermont, Indiana, during NASCAR’s annual visit to The Brickyard. That’s where the action unfolded on the night of July 28, 2007.

Leffler started fifth, and while Greg Biffle and Aric Almirola dominated, Leffler got within striking distance with a pit stop for new tires. Biffle led late, but the No. 38 Toyota stalked him lap after lap, closing in running down low while Biffle maintained the high line.

Then, a spin by Josh Wise with nine laps to go bunched the field up for a restart. With fresher tires than Biffle, Leffler moved alongside with three laps remaining. With two to go, Leffler moved out front for good, taking the win. 

Leffler did several doughnuts on the frontstretch after taking the checkered flag before the makeshift victory lane was set up. During the interview, Leffler mentioned the significance of the win.

“It’s awesome, you know, to get Toyota their first win,” Leffler said. “I gotta thank everyone at Toyota, everyone at Braun Racing.”

Reutimann, who finished third, was happy for the manufacturer but less enthusiastic about Leffler being the winner after clashing with the No. 38 mid-race.

“It’s hard to pass here,” Reutimann said. “I understand that, but he did that three times in the race. It’ll come around. He’ll need a hand somewhere, and we’ll be there to repay that.”

While he didn’t exact vengeance on Leffler, Reutimann did get his moment in the spotlight, giving Toyota its second win later in the year at Memphis Motorsports Park.

The following year saw Joe Gibbs Racing make the switch to Toyota in both series, which raised the level of performance across the board. Kyle Busch would only need four races to put Toyota in a Cup winner’s circle at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

For Leffler, that second career win would be his final one, as he was fatally injured in a crash in June of 2013. His victory that night in 2007 helped open the floodgates for JGR as its cars went on to be the first Toyotas to win driver championships in both O’Reilly and Cup, along with a multitude of races in both stock car levels.

But it will forever be Jason Leffler who did it first.