Jaguar finally gets into the NASCAR field

For grand marshal Byron Leftwich, it's a fantasy come true.

By GREG AUMAN
Published July 4, 2004

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DAYTONA BEACH - Jaguars quarterback Byron Leftwich, the grand marshal for Saturday's Pepsi 400, had one car he was pulling for in the Nextel Cup race: Jeff Gordon's No. 24 Chevy.

"I've got the 24 car," Leftwich said before his first NASCAR race. "He's the leader of my fantasy team."

Leftwich, who called himself a "new bandwagon racing fan," said he discovered NASCAR through a fantasy racing league he competes in with a few Jaguars players and members of the team's equipment staff. Each player has a fake budget of $100 to bid on four cars, and Leftwich used his budget for Daytona for Gordon, Michael Waltrip, Sterling Marlin and Brendan Gaughan.

"At first, I didn't know anybody but (Dale Earnhardt) Junior," Left-wich said. "But I got Gordon one week, I started winning and I started watching more on TV."

Leftwich said one teammate is such an Earnhardt fan he must have him on his fantasy team every week: "We only get $100 for four drivers, but he'd spend $99 to get Junior."

Asked if he'd give any of his drivers - especially Gordon - extra motivation to win if he saw them in the pits, Leftwich said: "I'm not going to put any added pressure on him. He has bigger things to worry about than my fantasy team."

Leftwich was talking about his hopes for his drivers when he found out that Waltrip was in the audience at his news conference. The two shook hands, and Leftwich kidded that Waltrip must be "pretty angry" after getting bumped off the track when leading on the last lap in Friday's Winn-Dixie 250 Busch series race.

Leftwich said he's usually on the other side of that same fantasy conversation, saying that fans are constantly asking him whether they should have him on their team.

"That's been the No. 1 question: "When should I draft you?' " he said. "I tell them, "You'd better take me first.' "