LEFFLER AND TEAM OVERCOME BODY DAMAGE SATURDAY TO REBOUND NICELY WITH 11TH PLACE CALIFORNIA FINISH

A week ago in the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series season opener in Daytona, Jason Leffler was penalized for aggressive driving that foiled his attempt at a top 10 finish. On Saturday afternoon at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, Leffler and his Great Clips/Dollar General/Northeastern Supply team overcame an involvement in a 3-car accident to rebound nicely to score a solid, 11th place finish in the Stater Brothers 300.

“Finishing 11th may not appear to be a very good race for us, but considering what we had to overcome, we’ll gladly take it”, Leffler said after surviving the 2009 season’s second race of the year. “We had a good car, and again were moving towards a definite top 10 finish and with some luck maybe a top five.

“Getting through that wreck really showed how hard this race team works, and it is really great to leave California with that 11th place finish,” said Leffler, who was running solidly in the top ten when disaster almost struck.

Leffler’s #38 Toyota Camry was running in the seventh position on lap 96 of the 150-lap contest when ahead of it the Ford driven by Sprint Cup Series veteran Greg Biffle got into the rear of the Chevrolet driven by Brad Keselowski as the two were battling for fifth place.

Keselowski’s #88 car turned hard into the outside retaining wall in the third turn, collecting Leffler’s car in the process. “You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” crew chief Scott Zipadelli was heard saying over the radio to Leffler who nursed his car onto pit road during the caution hoping that the damage wasn’t too severe. It wasn’t.

There was damage to the left front fender, but Leffler’s Braun Racing crew was able to pull the sheet metal away, examine the wheel, change tires out and fuel without losing a lap and sent Leffler back onto the race track in the 15th position…the final car on the lead lap.

From that position, Leffler did the rest of the work, steadily working his way forward and around cars to eventually earn the 11th position with a late-race pass of Scott Lagasse, Jr. He was within a car length of 10th place finisher Steve Wallace when the checkered flag fell, preventing a possible confrontation with Wallace whom Leffler spun out in Daytona last weekend that earned him NASCAR’s wrath and the 5-lap penalty.

“We have a pretty darn good race team this year, so we’ll continue to make headway and improve from race to race. It will my job to drive the car as hard as I can and contend for wins, and that will continue next week when we head to Vegas,” added Leffler, alluding to next Saturday’s Sam’s Town 300 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

That race is scheduled to take the green flag at 4 p.m., EDT with ESPN2 to televise the race live.

Kyle Busch, who won nine races in Nationwide Series competition last season, dominated the California test, leading all but a few laps to win by a substantial margin over runner-up Kevin Harvick. Joey Logano, Carl Edwards and David Ragan, all Sprint Cup Series regulars, rounded out the top five.