SLICK RACING CONDITIONS AND SLOW, LATE-RACE PIT STOP FOIL LEFFLER’S DAYTONA DEBUT FOR NORTHEASTERN SUPPLY

For most of Saturday afternoon’s season-opening race for the NASCAR Nationwide Series at the Daytona International Speedway, Jason Leffler had an able race car, seeking to post a top ten finish in his #38 Great Clips Toyota and to help welcome Braun Racing’s newest sponsor in the Northeastern Supply Company.

Unfortunately, slick racing conditions and a slower-than-normal final pit stop with just a handful of laps remaining cost Leffler who was forced to settle for a 19th place finish in the first of the 2008 season’s 35 scheduled races.

Leffler started the race in the third position after an excellent qualifying effort on Friday afternoon and remained close to the front of the field for most of the race despite contending against a host of NASCAR Sprint Cup regulars who again dominated the action.

Though he was unable to remain in the top ten due primarily to the slick track conditions and the inability to get other drivers to work with him in the draft, Leffler refused to wilt and kept battling.

He was 15th when he pitted on lap 58 for the second time in the race and improved three spots after a brisk stop for fresh tires and fuel, re-starting 12th. The #38 Great Clips/Northeastern Supply Company Toyota Camry remained in the top 15 for the next 20 laps but lost a couple of spots to 17th by the time the next caution flag flew on lap 80 when the Ford of Marcus Ambrose scraped the second turn wall.

Again Leffler’s crew rose to the occasion and helped Leffler improve three positions to 14th when the race re-started on lap 84.

Jason made some excellent moves on the track over the next 20 circuits and improved his position even more to 11th place with just 25 laps remaining. However, as fate would have it, Leffler was called into the pits for his final stop with just 19 laps left during another caution to make one more chassis adjustment and get fresh tires when something went wrong.

It took almost 20 seconds for the crew to complete its work, and when Leffler returned to the race track he was showing 17th on the scoreboard and was never really able to recover – dropping back at one point to the 23rd position when he was forced to slow to avoid hitting eight cars that were collected in a turn four incident with nine laps left.

Jason was able to move up four spots over the final seven laps to at least come away with a top 20 finish and a virtually dent-free race car.

“I had a good race car, but it’s pretty tough when you have to contend against all of those Cup guys who usually don’t want to help us Nationwide Series regulars,” Leffler explained. “I definitely had a shot at a top ten if everything worked in our favor, but we lost some time during that last pit stop and Daytona is a tough place to make up that much ground with just a handful of laps left to race. We’ll just rebound next weekend in California,” Leffler ended.

Tony Stewart did put a Toyota in Victory Lane for only the second time in NASCAR race car competition, beating his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch to the checkered flag by two car lengths. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Brian Vickers and Matt Kenseth, all Cup regulars, rounded out the top five finishers. Only one Nationwide Series regular managed to break into the top 10 at the end and that was rookie driver Bryan Clauson in the sixth position driving for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Next weekend’s Stater Brothers 300 race at the California Speedway in Fontana is scheduled to tale the green flag at 7:30 p.m. EST with ESPN2 to again televise the race to the nation.