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NASCAR teams, drivers attend funeral of 5-year-old fan

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When five-year-old NASCAR fan Jake Leatherman died, more than 60 members of the NASCAR community came together to honor the young boy at his funeral.

On Wednesday, multiple NASCAR teams and drivers rallied around the family of 5-year-old NASCAR fan who passed away from juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia.

Joey Logano, Matt DiBenedetto, Ryan Ellis and the teams of Aric Almirola, Ryan Newman, Logano and others gathered at a church in Charlotte, North Carolina, to attend the funeral of Jake Leatherman, who died on Nov. 1.

The presence of so many members of the NASCAR community was the result Leatherman’s mother, Crystal, asking WBTV anchor Molly Grantham if she knew of anyone in NASCAR who could attend the funeral in uniform and carry her son’s casket.

“I want to give my son the sendoff he deserves,” Crystal Leatherman wrote. “He recently got into NASCAR and absolutely loves Richard Petty. He loved calling him ‘The King’. But Jake loves a lot of the other cars as well. The Lowe’s car. The M&M’s U.S.A. car. Lots of cars. He loved them all. I was wondering if you knew anyone who would be willing to come in uniform and help carry my baby?”

You can watch a short video from the funeral at Grantham’s Facebook page.