Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Disenchanted Jaskol leaves open-wheel racing

Tuesday, April 26, 2005 | 9:29 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Las Vegas resident Matt Jaskol is following the path many American open-wheel drivers are taking in search of fame and fortune: He's moving to NASCAR.

Jaskol, 20, announced Monday that he is leaving Richie Hearn's Star Mazda team to focus on the ASA Speed Truck Challenge series and a possible career in NASCAR.

"I'll be concentrating full time on the ASA Speed Truck ride," said Jaskol, who is leading that series' points standings after three races. "The support and the follow-through, basically, is just not there in open-wheel right at this minute. I think I'm playing it safe, to be honest with you; I'm just doing what's realistic.

"Open-wheel racing is struggling to get butts in the seats and struggling with people saying there are no Americans in the field. You don't see that problem in NASCAR."

Jaskol joins a growing list of disillusioned open-wheel drivers -- including Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Robby Gordon and Kasey Kahne -- who made the switch to NASCAR.

Just two years ago, Jaskol was considered one of the most promising young American drivers when he was a finalist in the 2003 Red Bull Driver Search -- a program started to identify and groom American drivers for a potential career in Formula One racing. Last year, with the funding of Red Bull, Jaskol won four races and finished fourth in the final standings in the Formula BMW USA series.

Jaskol drove the first two races of the 2005 Star Mazda Series for Las Vegas-based Hearn Motorsports and posted finishes of second at Sebring International Raceway and third at Road Atlanta.

Jaskol made his ASA Speed Truck Challenge debut in March and finished second at Irwindale Speedway in Southern California. Two weeks later, in his second start, he led all 75 laps en route to a victory at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Saturday night at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif., Jaskol finished seventh and maintained the series points lead.

"I did a lot better than I expected to, finishing second in the first race and winning the second race," Jaskol said. "At Bakersfield, we started eighth and got back up to fifth when there was a huge crash in front of us and I got taken out. I fell back to 34th but made it back up to (seventh) before the end of the race.

"I might still do the Montreal (Star Mazda) race for Richie ... but I'm going to focus on the ASA Speed Truck and -- who knows -- we might get a (NASCAR) Busch (Series) test or a Craftsman Truck test out of it this year."

The ASA Speed Truck Challenge returns to The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on May 7.

LOCAL FLAVOR: Jaskol wasn't the only Southern Nevada racer to post a good result this past weekend.

Spencer Clark, 18, qualified second and finished fifth in Thursday night's NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series race at Phoenix International Raceway. Las Vegas resident Scott Lynch won the pole for the same race, finished second and assumed the series points lead.

Alex Haase, 15, finished third in the ASA Speed Truck Challenge race at Mesa Marin, George Antill was sixth, Joey Mogar took ninth and Henderson's Joe Farre was 10th. Las Vegas residents Terry Young (13th) and Matt Daly (16th) also competed in the race.

BUSCH ON A ROLL: Las Vegas native Kurt Busch, the defending NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion, won Saturday night's Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway and moved from fourth to second in points, 173 behind Jimmie Johnson.

Busch has been in the top-10 in the Nextel Cup points standings for 43 consecutive races -- the longest current streak on the circuit.

AT THE BULLRING: Doug Hamm earned his second Late Models main-event victory Saturday night at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Other main-event winners were Brian Matzke (Chargers), Rick Rogas (Master Legends Cars), Dustin Ash (Pro Legends Cars), Keith Wellman (Semi-Pro Legends Cars), Michael Morrissey (IMCA Modifieds) and Joe Crouch (Bullring Bombers).