Jason Hedlesky (born February 20, 1974) is an American former race car driver. He is now a spotter for
Matt Crafton
Matthew Justin Crafton (born June 11, 1976) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He is a three-time champion of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (2013, 2014, 2019), in which he competes full-time, driving the No. 88 Ford F-150 ...
in the
NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of t ...
.
Career
Hedlesky has competed in select
ARCA Re/Max races from 2000 to 2007, with the exception of 2004. Hedlesky's previous ARCA starts came behind the wheel of cars fielded by legendary team owner,
Junie Donlavey
Wesley Christian "Junie" Donlavey Jr. (April 8, 1924June 9, 2014), a native of Richmond, Virginia, was the owner of Donlavey Racing; he began fielding the team in 1950. He drove for his team at first, but soon gave way to other drivers. Donlavey ...
.
Hedlesky was the General Manager of
Donlavey Racing
Donlavey Racing was a stock car racing team that competed from 1950 until 2002 in the NASCAR NASCAR Cup Series, Winston Cup Series. It was owned by Junie Donlavey and ran a total of 863 races in NASCAR. Donlavey Racing used a number of makes and n ...
in the Winston Cup Series from 1998 to 2004, the year Donlavey decided to retire from active competition. At the
2002 UAW-GM Quality 500 at
Lowe's Motor Speedway
Charlotte Motor Speedway (previously known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009) is a motorsport complex located in Concord, North Carolina, outside Charlotte. The complex features a quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including ...
, he was the last person to qualify Donlavey's legendary #90
Lucas Oil
Lucas Oil Products, Inc. is an American manufacturer and distributor of automotive oil, additives, and lubricants. It was founded by trucker Forrest Lucas and his wife Charlotte in 1989. The company is a medium size manufacturer of lubrican ...
Ford, starting 41st and finishing 43rd after 31 laps for his only Cup start.
Hedlesky's last competitive race was in 2007 in the ARCA Series.
After his driving career, Hedlesky became a spotter in NASCAR, first working with
Carl Edwards
Carl Michael Edwards II (born August 15, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. Prior to that, he drove the No. ...
' No. 99 team for
Roush Fenway Racing Roush is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Politics
*Glenn Roush (1934–2020), American politician in Montana
* J. Edward Roush (1920–2004), United States Representative for Indiana, namesake of:
** J. Edward Roush Lake, a re ...
. He initially started spotting part time while continuing to race in ARCA, when the two series' schedules did not conflict with each other. Eventually, he also started spotting for
Matt Crafton
Matthew Justin Crafton (born June 11, 1976) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He is a three-time champion of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (2013, 2014, 2019), in which he competes full-time, driving the No. 88 Ford F-150 ...
's No. 88 team for
ThorSport Racing
ThorSport Racing is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. The team was founded in 1996 as SealMaster Racing and is based in Sandusky, Ohio. Owned by Duke Thorson and his wife ...
in the Truck Series. In 2015, when Edwards left Roush for the new 4th
Joe Gibbs Racing
Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization owned and operated by former Washington Redskins (today the Washington Commanders) coach Joe Gibbs, which first started racing on the NASCAR circuit in 1991. His ...
car, the No. 19, Hedlesky moved over with him.
In 2017, Hedlesky became the spotter for Cup Series driver
Matt Kenseth
Matthew Roy Kenseth (born March 10, 1972) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He drives the No. 8 car in the Superstar Racing Experience. (SRX)
Kenseth started racing on several short tracks in Wisconsin and won track cha ...
. He was swapped with Kenseth's previous spotter Chris Osborne after the surprise retirement of Edwards and the promotion of
Daniel Suarez
Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...
to the 19 car in the Monster Energy Cup Series. The duo of Osborne and Suarez had previously worked together in the Xfinity Series, winning the 2016 championship.
Hedlesky lost his job with JGR after
Erik Jones
Erik Benjamin Jones (born May 30, 1996) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Petty GMS. His nicknames are EJ, his initials, and That J ...
and his spotter
Rick Carelli
Richard Dean Carelli (born November 9, 1954) is a retired American race car driver from Arvada, Colorado. He was nicknamed the "High Plains Drifter". He won multiple times in the No. 6 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series truck. He is the spotter for Er ...
moved over together from
Furniture Row Racing
Furniture Row Racing (FRR) was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2005 to 2018. The team was owned and sponsored by Furniture Row, a U.S. furniture store chain, and was based in Furniture R ...
to the No. 20 car for Gibbs, replacing Kenseth and Hedlesky. However, he continues to spot in the Truck Series for Crafton and ThorSport Racing. He also later started spotting for
DGR-Crosley
TRICON Garage, formally known as David Gilliland Racing and Team DGR, is an American professional stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the ARCA Menards Series, the ARCA Menards Series East, the ARCA Menards Se ...
when the team was formed in 2018.
Motorsports career results
NASCAR
(
key) (
Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
Winston Cup Series
Busch Series
Craftsman Truck Series
ARCA Re/Max Series
(
key) (
Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
References
External links
*
Jason Hedlesky Racing NewsRoush Fenway Racing Team Roster
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hedlesky, Jason
1974 births
Living people
NASCAR drivers
ARCA Menards Series drivers
Racing drivers from Detroit
Racing drivers from Michigan