Ganassi plums for young charger Leffler in 2001.

Former Indy Racing League standout Jason Leffler has signed a four year contract with Chip Ganassi Racing/Team SABCO to race the newly reliveried No.01 Cingular Wireless Dodge Intrepid in the NASCAR Winston Cup, starting with next month's Daytona 500 at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway.

Leffler will join fellow Busch Grand National Series graduates Casey Atwood, Buckshot Jones and Ron Hornaday, Craftsman Truck Series campaigners Kurt Busch and Andy Houston in the 2001 Winston Cup Reybestos Rookie of the Year field and will team up with two time Daytona 500 winner Sterling Marlin in what promises to be an exciting new combination.

Ganassi is renowned for his work in bringing rookie drivers along and with former team-boss Felix Sabates still very much involved, things bode well for Leffler's Winston Cup future.

The 24 year old California native finished 20th in his rookie season of Busch Series action last year ahead of the Petty Enterprises bound Jones and far more experienced campaigners such as Dick Trickle and Mike McLaughlin. Driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, Leffler recorded two top five finishes and four top ten results in a full season and ended up fifth in the Busch Rookie standings behind Kevin Harvick, Hornaday, Jimmie Johnson and Jay Sauter.

The move comes as something as a surprise although it was common knowledge that Ganassi was interested in signing Leffler with a view to racing him in 2002. The task of developing the brand new Dodge chassis was originally going to be given to a more experienced driver and out of work Roush Racing man Kevin Lepage was considered for the seat vacated by Ted Musgrave at the end of the 2000 season.

However Leffler will get his first taste of the new car on Tuesday at Daytona when the Dodge teams head to Florida for a two-day test. 2001 looks like being a very learning year for the young driver, who finished 17th in last years Indianapolis 500 for Treadway Racing.

As one driver makes his way up the racing ladder it seems as though another is on his way down, as Lepage's immediate future now seems to rest in the Busch Series where he made his name in the early 1990's. There are still one or two drives floating around in Winston Cup but none with front running teams and unless Lepage wants to spend another year running in the idle of the pack, a slight step back may be his best option at the moment.