NEWS AND NOTES FROM THE RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDERS – NASCAR BUSCH SERIES
Carl Edwards was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the Telcel/Motorola Mexico 200 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. He took top rookie honors for the first time this season and leads Reed Sorenson by five points (45-40) in the Raybestos® Rookie standings entering the Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
DID YOU KNOW? At least one Raybestos® Rookie has finished in the top-10 in all three Busch Series races entering Saturday’s event at Las Vegas.
Raybestos Rookies at Las Vegas
Shane Hmiel owns the best qualifying effort by a Raybestos® Rookie in eight previous Busch Series races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Hmiel started second in the 2002 Sam’s Town 300.
The best finish by a Raybestos® Rookie at Las Vegas is second by Greg Biffle in 2001. Biffle finished 1.085 seconds behind race winner Todd Bodine. Biffle led the event four times for 39 laps, the most laps led by a first-year driver at Las Vegas.
The only other Raybestos® Rookie to score a top-five finish at Las Vegas is Scott Riggs, who finished fourth in the 2002 race.
Top-10 finishes by Raybestos® Rookies in the Las Vegas:
1997: Steve Park, eighth
2000: Ron Hornaday, eighth
2001: Greg Biffle, second
2002: Scott Riggs, fourth
RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER POINT STANDINGS
DRIVER POINTS
Carl Edwards 45
Reed Sorenson 40
Denny Hamlin 23
Michel Jourdain 20
Jon Wood 18
Ryan Hemphill 15
Paul Wolfe 14
Brent Sherman 8
Boston Reid 8
Tyler Walker 7
A.J. Fike 7
Kertus Davis 6
Kim Crosby 2
Donnie Neuenberger 2
HIGHEST FINISHING RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE BY RACE
EVENT HIGHEST FINISHING ROOKIE
Hershey’s TAKE 5 300 Reed Sorenson, ninth
Stater Bros. 300 Reed Sorenson, fifth
Telcel/Motorola Mexico 200 Carl Edwards, third
