LEFFLER HAS BEST NASCAR RUN IN NEARLY TWO SEASONS; RACES TO VERY SOLID FOURTH PLACE FINISH IN LAS VEGAS

Jason Leffler, new crew chief Scott Zipadelli and their Great Clips/Dollar General/Northeastern Supply race team appear to be on a roll and showed it in solid fashion at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday with a strong, fourth place run in the Sam’s Town 300, Nationwide Series event.

Leffler had one of the day’s best race cars, charging forward from the drop of the green flag from the 23rd starting position. By lap 20, the #38 Great Clips Toyota Camry had already improved 11 positions to 12th place, and just a half dozen circuits later was showing in the top ten in 9th. Never was Leffler ever going backwards except when the race was forced to end on a green/white/checker format after a 2-car wreck involving Denny Hamlin and Mike Bliss brought out the race’s 10th caution flag with just three laps remaining.

“I thought I was out of fuel,” Leffler said, concerned when his car began sputtering during the lengthy yellow flag laps he and the other cars still running had to endure at the end and with the #38 in second place.

When the race was finally re-started for the final time on lap 208, eight laps more than the actual distance, Leffler’s car burped a bit and allowed the cars driven by teammate Brian Vickers, Carl Edwards and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to go around him before the cars reached the first turn.

But with Zipadelli telling Jason to keep his foot in the throttle on the radio, and assuring him that the car would get back up to speed, Leffler’s car sprung to life on the backstretch. Jason was eventually able to chase down Earnhardt, Jr. at the stripe to notch the fourth place finish behind race winner Greg Biffle, Edwards and Vickers giving Braun Racing two top five finishes.

“This was the best race car that I have ever had at Las Vegas and it showed today,” Jason exclaimed. “This race team is determined to win, and even though I thought that today was possibly going to be that day to finally get back to Victory Circle, I’ll take this fourth place finish and work even harder with the guys to get ready for Bristol in three weeks to keep our momentum going,” Leffler added.

Combining the Vegas performance with his 11th place finish last week in California, Leffler moved into the top 10 in driver points to the eighth spot after this year’s first three races. That makes it a jump of 25 positions in just two races since finishing a disappointing 33rd in the Daytona season opener.

The #38 ran in the top 10 over the final 150 laps and led a lap under green for the first time since late in the 2007 campaign. Leffler ran second and appeared to be a lock for that spot over the race’s final 30 laps until that last caution period when fuel pick-up became the issue. It didn’t daunt Jason whatsoever.

“I am so happy with my race team this year,” Jason stated. “Scott (Zipadelli) has really taken charger and given us direction and our equipment is just the best. I am really stoked for what this season has to offer us and hope that we can continue our march forward at Bristol,” Leffler added.

The Bristol test, the Sharpie Mini 300, is set for Saturday afternoon, March 21 with ESPN2 to televise the race live beginning at 2 p.m. EDT.