Peck Scored Emotional Win For Buch Motorsports Team Nine Years After Death of Jason

Leffler

By JOHN O’CONNOR

Justin Peck’s win with the All-Star Circuit of Champions at Bridgeport Motorsports Park
this past Thursday night was as emotional as race victories will come.
The Monrovia, IN driver took the Tom Buch owned No.13 to victory lane at the very
same place that nearly a decade earlier, tragedy struck for one of Buch’s drivers.
In 2013, former USAC and NASCAR standout Jason Leffler was killed during a heat
race on Bridgeport’s 5/8th of a mile configuration.
The All-Star event was just the second time that the team has been at Bridgeport in the
years that followed and although the track is a lot different, when Peck pulled into the victory
lane, emotions were understandably high and he was glad to be able to win it in honor of Leffler
and for car owner Buch.
Peck noted that Buch was not in attendance and was emotional as the team was preparing
for the event.
“Tom (Buch) was not with us tonight, but he was when we were here for the PA Posse
race,” Peck said. “I’m sure its tough for him to come to a race like this when we all know what
events took place nine years ago. It’s pretty cool to win this $12,000 to win show because he
wanted us to win bad.”
With how much this event meant to the team, Peck felt that Buch’s desire to win this race
gave him a big shot in the arm behind the wheel.
“I definitely feel like Tom gave me a little bit of boost of confidence and it made me try
even harder,” Peck said. “I’m glad I was able to get this for him and to stand on the top step with
all of these guys.”
Most of the crew members that turn wrenches for Peck knew Leffler and Peck said that a
few of them were with Leffler that day.
“I never had the opportunity to meet Leffler but everybody that is involved with our deal
now had a relationship with him,” Peck said. “We got Massie here who was with Leffler the
night of the accident and like I said everyone on this team had a friendship with him. So to put
all of these guys in victory lane is an amazing feeling.”
With finishes of third and first in both of his starts at Bridgeport this year, the 4/10th of a
mile high banked oval has quickly become of a Peck’s favorite racetracks because you need to be
up on the wheel every single lap.
 “This is a balls to the wall kind of joint and that is my style,” said Peck. “I just get up on
the rip and try to make as much speed as possible. It’s technical and at the same time it’s not.
You have to kind of let it fly and then know the technical aspects of it like when to drop to the
bottom and how to throw sliders. It’s a lot of fun and it’s one of my favorite places in the country
because it’s been very racy every time that I’ve been here.”
The win at Bridgeport was the third consecutive win with the All Stars for Peck after
picking up victories at Utica Rome and Bloomsburg respectively. To wrap up the All-Star’s trip
to the east coast, Peck finished fourth in both features at Williams Grove on Friday, took home
another victory at Lincoln on Saturday, and finished ninth at Bedford on Sunday.
The strong finishes are coming at the right time for Peck as he is in a tight point battle
with Tyler Courtney for the series championship. Peck said the recent success can be attributed
to a better understanding of the car and its package.
“What we’ve done this week hasn’t been much different from what we’ve been doing all
year long, it’s just the timing of when we’re doing stuff,” Peck said. “I think we’ve really begun
to understood our package. We got really good for a stint at the beginning of the year and we
were clicking off top three’s night after night. Since then, we kind of struggled a little bit and
now we are putting it all together. We are realizing what we are lacking and the reason for it. The
communication between myself and the team has gotten better and we’ll try to keep this hot
wave going.”