LEFFLER FINISHES A VERY STRONG SECOND IN DARLINGTON FOR 5TH STRAIGHT TOP 10 FINISH AND 7TH IN LAST 8 RACES!!!!

Jason Leffler continued his roll in NASCAR Nationwide Series competition Friday night, finishing a very strong 2nd to winner Matt Kenseth for his fifth straight top 10 finish and seventh in the last eight events.

With qualifying rained out and the starting field lined up by owner points, Leffler started the Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at the famed Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina in the seventh position. It didn’t take long to figure out that the speeds Leffler’s #38 Great Clips/Dollar General/Northeastern Supply Toyota Camry were turning during the early practice sessions were for real and that the Braun Racing entry would be a contender during the race.

Despite starting the race on a green race track due to the rains that pelted the area throughout the afternoon hours removing most of the rubber from the racing surface, Leffler continued to show that he is a factor every time he comes to the 1.366-mile, egg-shaped Darlington oval that hosted its very first NASCAR sanctioned race back in 1951.

He moved into the top five in just 24 laps, a position he would remain in over the final 128 laps, and twice ran as high as second. The final move into the elite two didn’t happen until the end of the race when the race’s dominant car driven by Kyle Busch had to pit with a flat right rear tire while leading with just three laps to go. Busch had led all but five of the laps to that point when he ran over debris left from the accident involving the cars of Joe Nemechek and Scott Lagasse, Jr. on the backstretch on the 144th lap of the scheduled 147. Busch was forced to pit to change that tire and was knocked out of contention for what would have been his fourth win in 10 races this season.

Nonetheless, the incident moved Kenseth to the top spot and Leffler into second with a green/white/checkered flag format needed to complete the race. Any chance Leffler might have had to overtake Kenseth over those two final laps for what would have been his first win since 2007 went out the window when another caution, brought out on the re-start lap when veteran Morgan Shepherd hit the turn 2 wall, officially ended the race. Kenseth took the checkered flag under the yellow.

“It was disappointing that we didn’t have at least a shot at passing Matt (Kenseth) over those final two laps, but everyone knows that we only get one chance at a green/white/checker finish and that should another caution occur during that period the race is over.” Leffler explained.

“But I really had a good car tonight. I am really proud of this race team and to drive one of the Braun Racing cars. We have a lot of new faces in the race shop and some renewed enthusiasm and Todd (owner Todd Braun) has given us what we need to run up front,” Jason stated. “We believe that this elusive next win is going to happen soon,” he added.

The #38 machine ran with the leaders the entire race, something that Leffler had shown over the years in now posting what is now four straight top 10 finishes at Darlington, the track they call “Too Tough Too Tame”. Though he never did lead a lap, Leffler said that the only car he didn’t have something for in the 10th race of the ’09 season was the #18 of Busch. “That team has been on such a roll lately that nobody seems to have an answer for,” explained Leffler.

Finishing behind Kenseth and Leffler in order was defending Series champion Edwards and a pair of rookies in Roush Racing’s Erik Darnell and Penske Racing’s Justin Allgaier. Darnell and Allgaier were two of 15 drivers in the 43-car starting field making their very first Darlington starts in the Nationwide Series and most of the race’s 10 cautions involved many of those first-timers. Fortunately, Leffler’s Camry was never a part of those incidents.

With his second runner-up finish of the 2009 campaign in the record books, Jason solidified his hold on third place in the Championship Driver Point Standing competition. With Busch finishing 15th, Leffler was able to whittle down Busch’s point advantage to just 153 heading into the Carquest Auto Parts 300 at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte on Saturday night, May 23. Edwards remained second in points, 37 behind Busch and just 116 more than Leffler.

The Charlotte event will be televised by ESPN2 with coverage scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.