Matt Jaskol has joined MBM Motorsports for his first foray into NASCAR’s national series. On Wednesday, he announced he will drive the #13 Toyota Supra for four Xfinity Series races beginning at Martinsville Speedway on 9 April. The other three races were not immediately revealed.
Jaskol is a longtime kart racer, winning the SKUSA SuperNationals and a World Karting Association title in 1998. From 2000 to 2002, he drove for a factory kart team operated by Champ Car driver Paul Tracy, with his team-mate being current Xfinity racer A.J. Allmendinger, and also served as a karting mentor for IndyCar Series regular Alexander Rossi. Jaskol and Rossi would visit Victory Lane together at the 2016 Indianapolis 500.
In 2003, Jaskol was scouted by the Red Bull Driver Search, a programme intended to find future American Formula One drivers (Scott Speed being the lone case). The following year, he entered the newly-formed Formula BMW USA series and won three races en route to a fourth-place points finish; the first victory, at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, was the first motorsport win for the Red Bull brand in North America. However, his open-wheel career eventually stagnated due to funding troubles. In 2005, he ran two races in the Star Mazda Championship and was second in points before sponsorship woes ended his season. Two years later, he contested five Indy Lights events with a fifth at Indianapolis Motor Speedway; he had won on the infield road course in Formula BMW.
The Xfinity starts will not be Jaskol’s first time in a stock car. In 2005, he became the first rookie to win the American Speed Association (ASA) Speed Truck Challenge championship, and tested with NASCAR team Roush (Fenway) Racing at Martinsville as part of their Roush Racing: Driver X series. He later focused on late models such as competing in what is now the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series at his home track Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
When not racing competitively, Jaskol is a racing instructor and skydiver, and also worked as a stunt driver for the 2020 film Smiley Face Killers. In 2018, he was a contestant on the ABC show Castaways. At the 2019 Indy 500, he served as Marco Andretti‘s spotter.
Jaskol’s addition to the MBM driver lineup was initially slipped into an announcement on Monday about Mike Marlar making his Cup Series début for the team as both drivers’ cars will be sponsored by The 4 Less Group. While Marlar’s car will race with Lift Kits 4 Less branding, Jaskol’s will have Auto Parts 4 Less.
MBM currently fields the #66 and #13 full-time in the Xfinity Series, while a third car #61 splits ownership with Hattori Racing Enterprises. The #13 is primarily driven by David Starr, though Chad Finchum and Loris Hezemans have also made starts.
