WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER NOTES FOR THE AMERIQUEST 300 NASCAR BUSCH SERIES RACE AT CALIFORNIA SPEEDWAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2006.
Paul Menard was the WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race in the Ameriquest 300. Menard led the race twice for seven laps and captured the award for the fourth time this season.
Menard took the lead in the overall WIX Filters Lap Leader standings over Jason Leffler (4-3).
Menard raced Kasey Kahne for the win in the closing laps of tonight’s race before running out of gas on the final lap. He was able to coast him with a fourth-place finish, his fifth top-five of the season.
Menard was the highest finishing Busch Series regular in the 43-car field.
Menard has led 10 times for a total of 175 laps in 2006 and the first race that he has led since the Goody’s 250 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (race No. 21).
Menard is UNOFFICIALLY sixth in the NASCAR Busch Series championship standings, 87 points ahead of seventh-place Kyle Busch.
MENARD QUOTE: “We need more of them, first off [smiles]. It’s cool to win the WIX Filters Lap Leader award. It was a lot of fun racing with Kasey. We’re pretty good friends and to see how he runs the different lines and I was kind of running my same line, dicing it up a little bit was a lot of fun. He’d conserve fuel, back off, and I’d have to do that for a little bit, so we’d fall apart and then we’d catch back up to each other. It was just a lot of fun.” BUT YOU CAN’T CONSERVE FUEL AND TRY TO WIN. “Yeah, once we got to Kasey with about 10 to go I knew it was game-on. Fuel conservation kind of went out the window. But we did what we had to do. We gambled and still got a top-five finish and I think that’s better than where I would have ended up had we not. This is a backup car so obviously my guys did a heck of a job getting that thing race ready and ready to go. I’m looking forward to Richmond.”
WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER AWARD STANDINGS
Paul Menard 4
Jason Leffler 3
Ashton Lewis 2
J.J. Yeley 2
Jason Keller 1
Denny Hamlin 1
Steve Wallace 1
Tim Sauter 1
David Green 1
David Gilliland 1
Scott Wimmer 1
Michel Jourdain Jr. 1
Cale Gale 1
Mike Wallace 1
WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER AWARD WINNERS BY RACE
EVENT DRIVER
Hershey’s Kissables 300 J.J. Yeley (13 laps)
Stater Bros. 300 Jason Keller (one lap)
telcel-MOTOROLA 200 Denny Hamlin (40 laps)
Sam’s Town 300 Ashton Lewis (10 laps)
Nicorette 300 J.J. Yeley (one lap)
Sharpie Mini 300 Steve Wallace (three laps)
O’Reilly 300 None
Pepsi 300 Paul Menard (three laps)
Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 Jason Leffler (78 laps)
Aaron’s 312 None
Circuit City 250 Jason Leffler (66 laps)
Diamond Hill Plywood 200 Tim Sauter (one lap)
CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 Jason Leffler (two laps)
Stonebridgeracing.com David Green (one lap)
Federated Auto Parts 300 Ashton Lewis (18 laps)
Meijer 300 David Gilliland (11 laps)
AT&T 250 Paul Menard (85 laps)
Winn-Dixie 250 None
USG Durock 300 None
New England 200 None
Goody’s 250 Paul Menard (23 laps)
Busch Silver Celebration 250 Scott Wimmer (five laps)
Kroger 200 None
Zippo 200 Michel Jourdain Jr. (nine laps)
CARFAX 250 Cale Gale (two laps)
Food City 250 Mike Wallace (27 laps)
Ameriquest 300 Paul Menard (seven laps)
