NNS Etc.
Leffler Looks For Fewer Fireworks This Time Around At Daytona
Jason Leffler (No. 38 Great Clips Toyota) has probably had this race circled on his calander for a while.
Back in February at the season-opener, Leffler was running 16th when he tangled with Steve Wallace (No. 66 USFidelis Chevrolet) in between Turns 3 and 4. Leffler was held five laps by NASCAR for aggressive driving.
In 11 career series races at Daytona, Leffler had completed every lap but two before sitting out those five. And he’s finsihed every lap this year — again, except those five.
His resulting 33rd-place finish stands as his worst of the year. Since then, he’s logged 12 top-10 finishes — 11 consecutive — along with three top fives including two runner-up finishes.
Leffler is currently fourth in the standings and needs a solid finish to whittle into the 158-point advantage third-place Brad Keselowski holds over him. Wallace, meanwhile, recovered nicely and is now a career-best ninth in the top-10 rankings.
Bown, Carelli Ready For West Coast Stock Car Hall Of Fame Induction
Chuck Bown, the 1990 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion, will be among 10 new members inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame. Ceremonies are set for Friday, July 3 at Irwindale Speedway.
Also included in Bown’s class is Rick Carelli, who now serves as general manager of Kevin Harvick, Inc.
Bown, a native of Portland, Ore., won three races in the NASCAR Camping World Series West before heading across country and winning the NASCAR North Series title.
Carelli, from Denver, Colo., won the NASCAR Southwest Tour title in 1991 and the NASCAR Camping World Series West championship in 1993.
Baker Curb Salutes Golden Anniversary Of The King’s 200th Win
Jason Keller’s No. 27 Ford will carry the familiar “Grabber Blue” and “Orange Neon” color scheme Friday night at Daytona to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Richard Petty’s 200th — and final — win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Keller’s current team co-owner, Mike Curb, was the owner of Petty’s famous No. 43 STP Pontiac for that win.
Keller finished ninth at Daytona in February and is the lone series-only regular among four drivers — Keller, Dale Earnhardt Jr., David Ragan and Kyle Busch — to finish in the top 10 in both superspeedway races this year.
In The Garage: Florida Natives
Paul Flury (Hollywood) - No. 29 engineer
Kenny Oates (Miami) - No. 38 engineer
Thomas Costello (St. Petersburg) - No. 29 Mechanic
Kevin Bellicourt (Daytona Beach) - No. 38 tire specialist
Scott Lagasse Jr. (St. Augustine) - No. 11 driver
Patrick Sheltra (Indiantown) - No. 81 driver
Manufacturers’ Standings
2009 Manufacturers’ Championship Standings
Toyota 110
Chevrolet 97
Ford 94
Dodge 51
Following Race 16 of 35, New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Toyota’s third win in the last four races has pushed its lead in the manufacturers race to 13 points over the second-place Chevrolet.
Toyota swept last year’s races at Daytona, but Chevrolet came back to win a close race at the superspeedway to start the 2009 season. Chevy has a series-leading 22 wins at the track.
Third-place Ford has won three times at Daytona, most recently in 2004. Dodge is looking for its first Daytona win and first overall since August 2007 at Bristol. Kasey Kahne was the driver then — he’s entered Friday night in the No. 9 McDonald’s McCafé Toyota.
NASCAR Nationwide Series Raybestos Rookie Standings
Rk / Driver Team Points 1 Brendan Gaughan RWR 165 2 Justin Allgaier Penske 164 3 Michael McDowell JTG-D 150 4 Scott Lagasse Jr. CJM 139 5 Michael Annett Germain 118 6 Jon Wes Townley RAB 80 7 Erik Darnell RFR 79 8 Ken Butler III R3 50 9 Peyton Sellers CM 37 10 Marc Davis MDM 24 11 Terry Cook MSRP 16
Up Next: Chicagoland Speedway
A second Friday night race under the lights is in store for the NASCAR Nationwide Series next week in Chicago.
The Dollar General 300 powered by Coca-Cola at Chicagoland Speedway gets underway at 8 p.m. ET.
Kyle Busch won last year’s race; David Reutimann captured the pole.
There have been only two multiple winners at the 1.5-mile track located in Joliet, Ill. — Kevin Harvick won in 2005 and ‘07 while Ryan Newman won the pole for the inaugural event in 2001 (Jimmie Johnson won the race) and in 2005.
FAST FACTS
The Race: Subway Jalapeño 250 powered by Coca-Cola
The Place: Daytona International Speedway
The Date: Friday, July 3
The Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
The Distance: 250 miles / 100 laps
2008 Race Winner: Denny Hamlin
2008 Polesitter: Bryan Clauson
Driver Standings
Pos. Driver Points 1 Kyle Busch 2,581 2 Carl Edwards 2,419 3 Brad Keselowski 2,338 4 Jason Leffler 2,261 5 Joey Logano 2,040 6 Mike Bliss 1,910 7 Justin Allgaier 1,864 8 Brendan Gaughan 1,844 9 Steve Wallace 1,823 10 Jason Keller 1,810
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