LEFFLER CONTINUES CLIMB UP NATIONWIDE SERIES POINT STANDINGS AS 13TH PLACE TEXAS FINISH MOVES HIM INTO FOURTH PLACE

Jason Leffler and his Great Clips/Dollar General/Northeastern Supply Company Toyota team continued to climb the NASCAR Nationwide Series point’s ladder Saturday with a solid run in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at the Texas Motor Speedway.

Leffler, who qualified 12th for the 200-lap test around TMS’ 1.5 mile tri-oval, ran in the top 10 through most of Saturday’s race and posted a 13th place finish. That effort, coupled with some below-par runs by other competitors, enabled Leffler to climb another two spots in the driver’s Championship Point’s standing to fourth.

It was the fourth consecutive race in which Jason jumped at least two positions in the standings and has him now trailing point’s leader Carl Edwards by just 187 points heading into next Saturday’s Nashville 300 at the Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, TN.

Leffler’s #38 Toyota Camry was showing in the top 10 throughout Saturday’s race in Texas with Jason taking advantage of some pit strategy by Crew Chief Scott Zipadelli on lap 67 to vault to 5th on the grid after taking just two tires during the team’s first pit stop of the event.

Though the tire strategy employed by Zipadelli was not able to contend the #38 machine for the victory, it did give Leffler track position, one that Jason was able to maintain until the late stages of the race when a loose handling condition had the #38 lose several positions.

Leffler stuck with the program, however, and did rally from as far back as 15th over the day’s final seven laps to take the checkered flag 12th behind dominant race winner Kyle Busch who posted his third straight Nationwide Series victory at TMS.

Veteran NASCAR Sprint Cup driver and former champion Tony Stewart finished second thanks to a final sprint over those final few laps while Brad Keselowski, David Ragan and Paul Menard rounded out the top five finishers.

“We had a decent car today and should have had a top 10 finish,” Leffler said. “But we’ll take this finish and another jump up the point standing, and head to Nashville with a chance to win a race. I couldn’t be happier for the way we’ve been running, and sometime soon things will go our way enough for us to take that checkered flag first,” he added.

Fellow Braun Racing teammates for the day, David Reutimann in the #10 Beringer Vineyards Toyota and Burney Lamar in the #32 Dollar General Toyota, finished 9th and 35th, respectively.

Point leader Edwards had a golden opportunity to improve on his point total when he was running fourth with less than five laps to go only to scrub the outside retaining wall in turn two while battling for position. It punched in the right front fender of Edwards’ Roush Racing Ford and flattened the right front tire in the process forcing Edwards to the pits for a tire change. That incident cost Edwards two laps and dropped him to 18th at the finish enabling winner Busch to move to within just 38 points heading into next week’s Nashville event.

The Nashville 300 is scheduled to take the green flag next Saturday at 3 p.m. EDT with TV coverage on ESPN2 to begin at 2:30.