DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Jason Leffler put a Toyota Camry on the pole for the second time with a lap at 184.559 miles per hour. In February at California, teammate Dave Blaney was fastest in qualifying.
Braun Racing also performed well in Saturday’s Winn-Dixie 250. Blaney finished third and Leffler ninth. A third Braun Toyota, the one driven by Brian Vickers, ran 13th.
“We got through it fairly unscathed,” Leffler said. “It was pretty rough out there. My car handled really good on the bottom of the track, and there were three or four of us that could go down there.”
Blaney and Leffler, who both came from short-track open-wheel racing, rank fourth and fifth, respectively, in Busch Series points — quite impressive for a team with no support from a Nextel Cup powerhouse.
“With our affiliation with Toyota, that’s helped to close the gap quite a bit,” Leffler said. “They’ve been a big help toward that. We’re a small team, and to have Dave Blaney and the 38 car run so well makes everybody proud at the shop.”

• Anyone who thought the Winn-Dixie 250 might physically drain Nextel Cup regulars for the Pepsi 400 was sadly mistaken.
“This shouldn’t be that big a deal. It’s what we train for during the week,” said Kevin Harvick, who was part of the 800-mile day at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Oct. 11, 2003.
“I feel like I’m in pretty good shape,” winner Kyle Busch said. “I’ll go back and take a shower to get the beer smell off me. Change my clothes. Hang out in the motor home a little bit. Couple of appearances to do later. It’s a short race tonight.”