course creates a learning environment where participants can quickly build and reinforce skills in multiple focus areas, including:

Joshua Wright, the course author, states "Hands-on security skills are what employers and security practitioners really need today to fight off increasingly sophisticated attacks. This course teaches in-depth security analysis capabilities through 80% hands-on exercises and labs, the most ever for a SANS course. Students work together with master instructor to learn how to solve increasingly demanding information security challenges that they can apply the day that they get back to their jobs."

This new course is launching at SANS Network Security 2013 in Las Vegas, NV on September 16, 2013. To learn more and to register, please visit:

The Hands-On Security Practitioner course departs from most lecture-based training models to help practitioners quickly build skills in many different information security focus areas. Using the NetWars challenge platform, participants engage in practical and real-world defensive and offensive Capture the Flag (CtF) exercises that are fun and exciting. By maximizing hands-on time in exercises, participants build valuable skills that are directly applicable as soon as they return to the office.

Participants who complete the Hands-On Security Practitioner participate in realistic scenarios to quickly build skills that are difficult to achieve independently. After completing the course, participants will be able to apply these skills to various areas within their own organizations, significantly increasing their ability to take on cross-disciplinary projects and tasks.

Participants must have introductory-level experience with information security, but can quickly expand their hands-on technical skills.

To learn more about the new NetWars Hands-On Security Practitioner course and to register, please visit: . If you would like to bring NetWars Tournament to your organization please email .

About SANS Institute The SANS Institute was established in 1989 as a cooperative research and education organization. SANS is the most trusted, and by far the largest source for world-class information security training and security certification in the world offering over 50 training courses. GIAC, an affiliate of the SANS Institute, is a certification body featuring over 20 hands-on, technical certifications in information security. SANS offers a myriad of free resources to the InfoSec community including consensus projects, research reports, and newsletters; and it operates the Internet's early warning system - the Internet Storm Center. At the heart of SANS are the many security practitioners in varied global organizations from corporations to universities working together to help the entire information security community. ()

SOURCE SANS Institute

Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway's line that carries oil from Montreal through Maine destined for Irving Oil's St. John, New Brunswick refinery has been shut since a crude train derailed in Lac-Megantic early Saturday.

About 50 people are either confirmed dead, or are still missing, likely turning the accident into North America's worst rail disaster since 1989.

Transportation Safety Board lead investigator Don Ross said in a press conference the line would be out of service for "a while, until this gets cleared up."

"Those services from Montreal through this area, Quebec, to the neighboring states is affected until we get it up and running," he told reporters.

The MMA train had been carrying crude from North Dakota to the 300,000 barrel per day (bpd) Irving Oil refinery. Officials from Maine's Department of Transportation said on Monday they had no plans to halt shipments of oil by rail through the state despite the Lac-Megantic disaster.

The MMA line carried more than 15,600 barrels per day (bpd) of crude through Maine in March, according to state data. A separate line owned by Pan Am Railways, took just over 12,400 bpd during that month.

Crude oil continues to flow through Maine to New Brunswick from points south along the railroad tracks owned by Pan Am Railways, which last year railed about 6,300 bpd of crude through the state.

Pan Am's line enters southwestern Maine in Berwick then runs northeastward through Portland and Waterville to Mattawamkeag, where deliveries are handed off to Maine, Montreal and Atlantic's line before crossing into New Brunswick, Canada.

"It's a tragedy, and we've reached out to MMA and offered to do whatever we can to help them," Pan Am vice president Cynthia Scarano told Reuters.

"But there's been no interruption in our service," she said.

(Reporting by Richard Valdmanis, additional reporting by Dave Sherwood in Bowdoinham, Maine; Editing by Bernard Orr)

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- The board in charge of Minnesota's new health insurance marketplace will begin hearing regular presentations from its future customers.

The MNsure board holds its second meeting Wednesday. On the agenda is a short presentation from Dana Hoenigschmidt, owner of a child care company in St. Francis that employs 25 people. According to MNsure's website, she's hoping MNsure will bring down her soaring health insurance premiums and let her provide her employees with high quality health plans.

The board will also get an update on customer service preparations.

About 1.3 million Minnesotans are expected to get coverage through MNsure, including 300,000 who currently don't have insurance, under the Obama administration's health care overhaul. The system is due to go live Oct. 1, offering plans that will take effect in January.

After the NBA's prized big man Howard chose to leave the Lakers in favor of the Houston Rockets last week, Los Angeles began the process of recouping by agreeing to a one-year deal with a new seven-footer.

The 31-year-old Kaman will ink a contract worth approximately $3.2 million, according to local reports, when free agents can officially sign on Wednesday.

"I am going to be going back to LA and it's to play for the Lakers! I am excited about this move and can't wait to play!" Kaman posted on his Twitter feed.

Entering his 11th season, Kaman has career averages of 11.8 points and eight rebounds and just completed a one-year campaign with the Dallas Mavericks.

He was an All Star in 2010 while playing for the Los Angeles Clippers.

(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles. Editing by Patrick Johnston)

LONDON, July 4 (Reuters) - Former France striker Nicolas Anelka has joined West Bromwich Albion after passing a medical, the English Premier League club said on Thursday.

A statement on the club website (www.wba.co.uk) said the 34-year-old had signed a one-year contract with a further year's option in the club's favour.

Anelka, who has played for Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Bolton and Chelsea, was a free agent after ending his loan spell with Juventus at the end of last season.

He won league and FA Cup doubles with Arsenal and Chelsea and national titles with Fenerbahce in Turkey and Juventus.

Anelka also helped Real Madrid win the Champions League in 2000, scoring in both legs of the semi-final against Bayern Munich and starting in the final.

In the same year he also lifted the European championship trophy with France. He retired from international football in 2010 after winning 69 caps and scoring 14 times.

His move to West Brom reunites him with Steve Clarke, the Albion manager who was part of the backroom coaching staff when Anelka joined Chelsea in 2008.

"We are missing a bit of firepower from last year - we're trying to put that right - and to kick off with the signing of Nicolas at the start of the summer is a great boost for everyone at the club," Clarke said.

"The sole focus at the club is trying to build on what we did last season. The more quality players you can bring to the club the better and no one can question Nicolas' quality.

"He's got a great work ethic, looks after himself and is a consummate professional. His experience with some of the top clubs in England and Europe will stand the group in good stead."

(Reporting by Tony Goodson; Editing by Tony Jimenez and John Mehaffey)

ATTLEBORO, Massachusetts (Reuters) - National Football League player Aaron Hernandez was charged with the execution-style murder of a friend and fired by the New England Patriots on Wednesday, a rapid fall for the rising star who was signed to a $41 million contract with one of the league's top teams.

The charges capped a day of furious developments in which Hernandez, 23, was removed from his home in handcuffs and paraded into court to face accusations that he gunned down semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd. Lloyd's body was found on June 17 in an industrial park near Hernandez's house.

Michael Fee, a lawyer for Hernandez, entered a plea of not guilty and called the prosecution's case circumstantial. As prosecutor Bill McCauley described the killing, Hernandez stood impassively in court, handcuffed and still in the white T-shirt he was wearing when he was arrested.

The charges were a setback for the NFL. Over the years, despite efforts to protect itself from controversy, the league has been dragged into a string of scandals by players stretching from O.J. Simpson's murder trial in 1995 to more recent cases involving dog fighting, injury bounties, spying and gambling.

In addition to murder, the criminal counts against Hernandez included five weapons charges related to the possession of unlicensed firearms. He was ordered held without bail.

SOURED FRIENDSHIP

McCauley told the court that Hernandez had soured on Lloyd a few nights before the killing after they had been at a Boston night club where Lloyd spoke to people with whom Hernandez said he "had trouble."

Hernandez, accompanied by two friends, drove to Lloyd's home in Boston the night of the killing and picked him up in a rented silver Nissan Altima, McCauley said. As they drove back to North Attleborough, where Hernandez lived, they stopped at a gas station where Hernandez bought fuel, gum and rolling papers for cigarettes.

In a minute-by-minute reconstruction developed from cell phone records and security video, including a 14-camera system Hernandez had at his house, prosecutors detailed what they said was an early morning killing.

McCauley said that shortly before his death, Lloyd had sent text messages to his sister, first asking if she had seen the people with whom he had gone out and later following up with, "NFL." His final message read, "Just so you know," McCauley said.

The four men drove to an industrial park near Hernandez's home, where he shot Lloyd five times, at least once while Lloyd was waving his arm trying to protect himself and twice standing over Lloyd while he lay on the ground, McCauley said. The bullets went straight through Lloyd's body.

"He orchestrated the execution. And that was just what it was," McCauley told the court.

Security video from Hernandez's home showed him returning after the killing, carrying a weapon that he brought to the basement of the house, McCauley said.

Investigators have not recovered that weapon, a 45-caliber handgun they believe Hernandez used on the attack.

Two women from Hernandez' family left the courtroom in tears while prosecutors were describing the shooting.

McCauley said Hernandez later tried to interfere with the investigation by not answering his door when police first arrived at his home and telling his sister not to speak with authorities.

The case has attracted intense interest in Boston, with media camped out around the spacious home where Hernandez has lived for the past week with his fiance and their eight-month-old child. The judge agreed to issue an order that had been requested by Hernandez's attorney to prevent lawyers on either side from discussing the substance of the case with the media.

"Aaron is fine," Fee told reporters as he left the court. Hernandez was driven away in a white police van.

CUT FROM TEAM

The New England Patriots said in a statement soon after the arrest that Hernandez had been cut from the team.

"At this time, we believe this transaction is simply the right thing to do," it said.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in a statement that Hernandez's arrest was "deeply troubling" and he "will have his day in court."

In a separate case, Hernandez has been sued by a Connecticut man, Alexander Bradley, who said Hernandez shot him in the face after the two left a Miami strip club in February, causing him to lose an eye. A Florida police official said last week that law enforcement had investigated the shooting but abandoned the case after Bradley refused to cooperate.

Hernandez had emerged as a potent weapon in one of the best tight-end tandems in the NFL, earning him a $4 million-per-year contract. In April, footwear and apparel company Puma announced a two-year endorsement deal with him. On Wednesday, Puma spokeswoman Katie Sheptyck declined to comment.

Hernandez played at the University of Florida before being drafted by the Patriots in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL draft.

(Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Paul Thomasch, Toni Reinhold)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Douglas Engelbart, a technologist who conceived of the computer mouse and laid out a vision of an Internet decades before others brought those ideas to the mass market, died on Tuesday night. He was 88.

His eldest daughter, Gerda, said by telephone that her father died of kidney failure.

Engelbart arrived at his crowning moment relatively early in his career, on a winter afternoon in 1968, when he delivered an hour-long presentation containing so many far-reaching ideas that it would be referred to decades later as the "mother of all demos."

Speaking before an audience of 1,000 leading technologists in San Francisco, Engelbart, a computer scientist at the Stanford Research Institute (SRI), showed off a cubic device with two rolling discs called an "X-Y position indicator for a display system." It was the mouse's public debut.

Engelbart then summoned, in real-time, the image and voice of a colleague 30 miles away. That was the first videoconference. And he explained a theory of how pages of information could be tied together using text-based links, an idea that would later form the bedrock of the Web's architecture.

At a time when computing was largely pursued by government researchers or hobbyists with a countercultural bent, Engelbart never sought or enjoyed the explosive wealth that would later become synonymous with Silicon Valley success. For instance, he never received any royalties for the mouse, which SRI patented and later licensed to Apple.

He was intensely driven instead by a belief that computers could be used to augment human intellect. In talks and papers, he described with zeal and bravado a vision of a society in which groups of highly productive workers would spend many hours a day collectively manipulating information on shared computers.

"The possibilities we are pursuing involve an integrated man-machine working relationship, where close, continuous interaction with a computer avails the human of radically changed information-handling and -portrayal skills," he wrote in a 1961 research proposal at SRI.

His work, he argued with typical conviction, "competes in social significance with research toward harnessing thermonuclear power, exploring outer space, or conquering cancer."

A proud visionary, Engelbart found himself intellectually isolated at various points in his life. But over time he was proved correct more often than not.

"To see the Internet and the World Wide Web become the dominant paradigms in computing is an enormous vindication of his vision," Mitch Kapor, the founder of Lotus Development Corporation, said in an interview on Wednesday. "It's almost like Leonardo da Vinci envisioning the helicopter hundreds of years before they could actually be built."

By 2000, Engelbart had won prestigious accolades including the National Medal of Technology and the Turing Award. He lived in comfort in Atherton, a leafy suburb near Stanford University.

But he wrestled with his fade into obscurity even as entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates became celebrity billionaires by realizing some of his early ideas.

In 2005, he told Tom Foremski, a technology journalist, that he felt the last two decades of his life had been a "failure" because he could not receive funding for his research or "engage anybody in a dialogue."

Douglas Carl Engelbart was born on January 30, 1925 in Portland to a radio repairman father who was often absent and a homemaker mother.

He enrolled at Oregon State University, but was drafted into the U.S. Navy and shipped to the Pacific before he could graduate.

He resolved to change the world as a computer scientist after coming across a 1945 article by Vannevar Bush, the head of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research, while scouring a Red Cross library in a native hut in the Philippines, he told an interviewer years later.

After returning to the United States to complete his degree, Engelbart took a teaching position at the University of California, Berkeley, after Stanford declined to hire him because his research seemed too removed from practical applications. It would not be the first time his ideas were rejected.

Engelbart also worked at the Ames Laboratory, and the precursor to NASA, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. He obtained a doctorate in electrical engineering from Berkeley in 1955.

He took a job at SRI in 1957, and by the early-1960s Engelbart led a team that began to seriously investigate tools for interactive computing.

After coming back from a computer graphics conference in 1961, Engelbart sketched a design of what would become the mouse and tasked Bill English, an engineering colleague, to carve a prototype out of wood. Engelbart's team considered other designs, including a device that would be affixed to the underside of a table and controlled by the knee, but the desktop mouse won out.

SRI would later license the technology for $40,000 to Apple, which released its first commercial mouse with the Lisa computer in 1983.

By the late 1970s, Engelbart's research group was acquired by a company called Tymshare. In the final decades of his career, Engelbart struggled to secure funding for his work, much less return to the same heights of influence.

"I don't think he was at peace with himself, partly because many, many things that he forecast all came to pass, but many of the things that he saw in his vision still hadn't," said Kapor, who helped fund Engelbart's work in the 1990s. "He was frustrated by his inability to move the field forward."

In 1986, Engelbart told interviewers from Stanford that his mind had always roamed in a way that set him apart or even alienated him.

"Growing up without a father, through the teenage years and such, I was always sort of different," Engelbart said. "Other people knew what they were doing, and had good guidance, and had enough money to do it. I was getting by, and trying. I never expected, ever, to be the same as anyone else."

He is survived by Karen O'Leary Engelbart, his second wife, and four children: Gerda, Diana, Christina and Norman. His first wife, Ballard, died in 1997.

(This story refiles to remove an extraneous word in the second paragraph)

(Reporting by Gerry Shih; Editing by Tim Dobbyn and Sandra Maler)

NEW YORK (AP) -- Two new Android phones will look and sound familiar to those who have been paying attention to phones. That's because these two devices are replicas of Samsung's Galaxy S4 and HTC's One, except they lack most of the bells and whistles added to the original models.

And that's a good thing.

The modifications Samsung and HTC apply to Google's Android software are meant to be improvements. But I've complained before about how the changes actually make phones more complex to use. The S4 even has an easy mode for first-time smartphone users, an admission that the normal mode is too confounding.

Google worked with both Samsung Electronics Co. and HTC Corp. to come out with "Google Play" editions of the hit phones. Instead of customized software from Samsung and HTC, the Google phones run a pure version of Android, just as it was developed by Google.

Google lets any phone maker use its Android operating system for free. To set themselves apart from competitors, phone makers often add their own touches to devices. They rearrange the menu or load additional apps. Wireless carriers also like to add their own apps. Before you know it, phones are bloated with features and apps you don't want and can't get rid of.

Consider my experience with the original S4 over the weekend. As I tried to adjust the camera's flash setting, I inadvertently made some postage stamp icon pop up. That activated the camera's dual-shot mode, which snaps a shot of you with the front camera to superimpose over whatever you're shooting with the camera on the back of the phone. I didn't want that, but I couldn't figure out how to get rid of it. My friend couldn't either. So we bagged the shot. Taking photos with a phone is supposed to be fun, not a chore.

With Google's version of the S4, I get a no-frills camera that is easy to figure out. It lacks gimmicks such as dual shots and the ability to combine several images of motion into a single shot. It offers about a half-dozen shooting modes, such as night, action and panorama, rather than the dozen or so on the original S4. But a half-dozen is about a half-dozen more than I need and use.

Google's S4 also lacks the original model's ability to pause video automatically when you look away from the screen or to scroll down an article when you tilt your head. Those features may sound cool, but they often don't work properly.

The Google version of the S4 also has alarm sounds that I can actually wake up to. Samsung had substituted those sounds with soft, soothing melodies that I end up incorporating into dreams. I've overslept a few times as a result.

As for Google's version of the HTC One, you don't get a busy home screen filled with news articles and Facebook status updates your phone thinks you want to read. Instead, you get a clean page with few apps. It's up to you to add the ones you want to see and use.

Both Google phones feel spare and minimal, which is great because it makes me feel in control. If I want to constantly know the weather, it's easy to add a weather widget to the home screen of either phone. But it's not forced.

The same goes for apps. I get basic functions such as text messaging and the clock and a range of Google services such as Gmail and YouTube. If I want other apps, I can easily tap the Google Play icon to get them. With the original S4, Samsung tries to steer you into its own app store, as well as its own music and video players. You end up with too many ways to do the same things.

You might think it takes a lot of work to add the apps you want to Google's phones, but it actually takes more work to hide or turn off everything you don't need that is, if you can at all with Samsung's and HTC's versions.

Now for the bad news: The Google edition of the S4 sells for $649, while Google's HTC One goes for $599. You can typically get the original models for $100 to $200 through your wireless carrier with a two-year agreement. And unless you're on T-Mobile, your monthly bill won't go down just because you pay full price for the phone elsewhere.

In addition, both Google phones are compatible only with T-Mobile, AT&T and other carriers that use GSM cellular technology, not the CDMA networks used by Sprint and Verizon Wireless. The Google edition would have been great for Verizon customers who still have unlimited data plans. Verizon no longer lets you stay on that plan if you buy a subsidized phone, so you'd have to pay the full price anyway.

The Google phones are also ideal for people who want the latest Android system that Google has to offer. You'll be able to update your phone as Google releases new versions of Android. Normally, phone makers and wireless carriers delay updates by weeks or months, so you can only read about those new Android features.

There are a few useful Samsung and HTC add-ons that Google does bring to its versions of the phones.

Google's S4 is compatible with Samsung's S-View flip cover. Using a magnetic sensor, the phone detects when the cover is closed and switches to a special mode that gives you the current time and details about who's calling through a small window in the cover. You can answer or reject a call without flipping over the cover.

Google's HTC One, meanwhile, shares the original model's front-facing speakers, giving you great sound when you're watching a movie or listening to music. Both models also have cameras with larger sensor pixels for better low-light shots. Our tests show that the HTC One produces low-light images with less distortion than other Android phones, though images aren't particularly crisp because the resolution is lower.

There are a few things I wish Google would have brought to its phones and to Android in general.

In the original S4, the on-screen keyboard has a row of numerals to type in. With the Google S4, you have to hit a button to get another screen with numerals, then toggle back for the letters. The original S4 also has the ability to run two apps side by side in a split window. That's gone in Google's S4.

Meanwhile, the original HTC One has the ability to make calls, send texts and take photos by sliding icons from the lock screen. With the Google version, you have to unlock the screen before getting icons to those functions.

On both phones, Google also adds one feature I could do without: a 360-degree panorama known as Photo Sphere. Neat as it is, it detracts from what is otherwise a just-the-basics camera. It would have been better as a separate app for those who want it.

But that's no reason to shun the Google phones. The minimized feel of Google's versions underscores how busy software can detract from good hardware. Take away that clutter, and you have excellent phones.

It's a bummer that you can't get the simplified phones through regular channels. You can get them only through Google's online Play store for hundreds of dollars more.

___

About the Google phones:

The new phones are existing Samsung and HTC phones loaded with Google's version of the Android operating system. That's the version that Google makes, before phone makers and phone carriers load Android up with their own features and apps.

These phones are good options for those who don't like all the bells and whistles in the original models. They are cleaner and easier to use. But they are also more expensive, as you have to pay full price through Google's online Play store rather than a subsidized price that wireless carriers offer with two-year agreements.

These phones aren't compatible with Verizon's or Sprint's CDMA networks. If you're on AT&T, you'll be paying more for the phone without any reduction in monthly phone bills. If you're on T-Mobile, though, expect to save $20 a month, or $480 over two years. You're still paying about $70 more overall for Google's S4 and $20 more for Google's One, but it's not the hundreds of dollars you'd be paying on AT&T.

The one-time, upfront cost is $649 for Google's S4 with 16 gigabytes of storage and $599 for the One with 32 gigabytes. Both phones are available in the U.S. only through Google's online Play store, with shipments expected by July 9.

___

Anick Jesdanun, deputy technology editor for The Associated Press, can be reached at njesdanun@ap.org.

___

Online:

Google phones: http://play.google.com/store/devices

Samsung Galaxy S4: http://samsung.com/GalaxyS4

HTC One: http://www.htc.com/www/smartphones/htc-one

The 19-year-old Spieth, playing on a sponsor's exemption this week, fired a five-under-par 66 in relatively calm conditions on a challenging layout to finish at seven-under 135, alongside overnight leader Roberto Castro, who carded a 69.

South Korea's Lee Dong-hwan was at five under after shooting a seven-birdie 66, level with Argentina's Andres Romero, who still had five holes to complete.

Play was suspended at 2:44 p.m. ET due to the threat of lightning and an attempt late in the day for the action to resume had to be aborted as storm clouds once again swept across the area.

The second round will continue on Saturday morning before the cut is made and the players then begin the third round in threesomes with a two-tee start, officials said.

Spieth, competing on a limited PGA Tour schedule this year as a special temporary member, was delighted with his bogey-free display, highlighted by five birdies in his first nine holes.

"I hit 18 greens ... I was very solid from tee to green," the former University of Texas standout told Golf Channel. "I put myself in great positions off the tee and was able to hit my mid-irons a little better than yesterday.

"Every opportunity I get (being) in contention, I learn a little bit each time," said Spieth, who has posted four top-10s in 13 starts on the 2013 PGA Tour, his best finish a tie for second at the Puerto Rico Open.

"I felt the nerves on the back nine but was able to still strike the ball well."

COLLEGE MEMORIES

Spieth, who turned professional in December, has yet to win his first PGA Tour title but hoped to draw on memories of his college success while bidding for victory at Congressional over the weekend.

"I just need to approach it like the last tournament that I won, and I am thinking back to college and just the way that I was able to win out there," the 19-year-old recalled.

"Obviously I don't know what it's like to win on the tour yet, but I just can't really think about that. I am only halfway through the tournament."

Castro, like Spieth seeking a maiden victory on the PGA Tour, was happy to remain in contention after following his opening 66 with a 69.

"Just got to keep going, and I was able to do that today," the flame-haired 28-year-old told reporters. "It feels good to play two rounds under par. It's a very hard golf course."

Americans Cameron Tringale (67) and James Driscoll (69) were at four under, a stroke better than Swede David Lingmerth, who was among a group of four players after firing a best-of-the-day 65.

Australian world number four and Masters champion Adam Scott, the highest-ranked player in the field, was a distant nine strokes off the pace after returning a 71.

The cut was projected to fall at two-over 144 with former PGA Tour winners Charley Hoffman, Aaron Baddeley, K.J. Choi and Hunter Mahan among those in danger of missing out.

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Frank Pingue)

The 37-year-old Leffler, a two-time winner on the NASCAR Nationwide Series who had the nickname "LefTurn" above the driver's side window on his race cars, was pronounced dead Wednesday night shortly after 9 p.m., New Jersey State Police said.

"NASCAR extends its thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathies to the family of Jason Leffler who passed away earlier this evening," NASCAR said in a statement. "For more than a decade, Jason was a fierce competitor in our sport and he will be missed."

Bridgeport Speedway immediately suspended racing for the rest of the night after Leffler's accident at the 0.625-mile, high-banked dirt oval.

After losing his NASCAR ride, Leffler had been racing dirt car events most of this year, including the 410 Sprint Car race Wednesday that promised a $7,000 prize to the winner. On Sunday, Leffler finished last at Pocono in his lone NASCAR Sprint Cup start of the year. He ran just eight laps in a start-and-park ride.

From Long Beach, Calif., Leffler made 423 starts in NASCAR's three national series, but won just the two Nationwide races and one Truck Series event in a career that began in 1999. He also made three IndyCar Series starts, finishing 17th in the 2000 Indianapolis 500.

A statement from Indianapolis Motor Speedway called Leffler "one of the most versatile race drivers in America, showing his talent by competing in the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during his career."

"He also displayed the skills that would help him reach the top levels of the sport by winning four USAC national series titles while winning on tracks throughout the Midwest," the statement said.

Leffler's last full NASCAR season was 2011, when he ran the entire Nationwide schedule for Turner Motorsports. He finished sixth in the standings that season and hadn't had a steady NASCAR ride since.

Although he never made it at the NASCAR Sprint Cup level, Leffler ran almost the entire 2001 season for Chip Ganassi Racing and ran 19 races in 2005 for Joe Gibbs Racing in the car now driven by Denny Hamlin.

Leffler is survived by 5-year-old son Charlie Dean.

"Really sad for Jason Leffler and his family," NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski said on Twitter. "Thinking about his little boy."

Leffler won three consecutive USAC Midget championships from 1997-99 before following mentor Tony Stewart's path into NASCAR. Stewart-Haas Racing, owned by Stewart, tweeted: "Thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of Jason Leffler. A good man; a good racer. Godspeed friend."

Leffler originally signed with Joe Gibbs Racing, the same team Stewart drove for at the time, and ran the 2000 Nationwide season for JGR. He grabbed four top 10s as a rookie, and moved to Cup the next year with Ganassi in a deal that lasted only one season.

IndyCar driver Justin Wilson tweeted: "Another reminder of how this sport we love can be so cruel. Thoughts with his family." Wilson included the hashtag "LEFturn."

NASCAR driver Clint Bowyer also included the hashtag "LEFturn" in a tweet, saying: "So sad to hear about Jason Leffler. Was a wheel man and a fun fun person to be around."

Many drivers also mentioned Charlie Dean in their tweets. A single father, Leffler was devoted to his son and his Instagram account was full of photos of the two spending time together, including many at race tracks.

"Praying for all of Jason Leffler family, especially his little guy Charlie," tweeted IndyCar driver Ed Carpenter.

A little over two weeks ago, 22-year-old driver Josh Burton died of injuries sustained in a crash at Bloomington Speedway in Indiana. In late May at a dirt track in Nevada, two drivers were killed in a race. In March in California, two people were killed when a car careened off a dirt track and crashed on pit road.

Sprint car races can be more dangerous for drivers and spectators because the safety measures taken by series aren't at the same level. Many facilities lack the SAFER barriers that are standard in NASCAR and IndyCar, and the cars aren't always adequately protected.