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Subway 500 - Raybestos® Rookie Notes
· Jamie McMurray was the top Raybestos® Rookie in the UAW-GM Quality 500 at
Lowe's Motor Speedway. McMurray finished seventh, his 11th top-10 finish of
the season. He took top Raybestos® Rookie honors for the 17th time this
season and for the eighth consecutive race. McMurray has been the top rookie in 10
of the past 11 Winston Cup races entering the Subway 500 at Martinsville
Speedway.
· HOT STREAK: The Charlotte race marked the seventh consecutive event where
McMurray added to his lead in the Raybestos® Rookie standings. He holds a
30-point advantage (271-241) over Greg Biffle entering the Subway 500.
· A STREAK IN DANGER: A Raybestos® Rookie has won at least one pole
position in each of the past seven consecutive seasons, dating back to 1996. Newman,
who won six in 2002, holds the record for most poles in a rookie season. No
Raybestos® Rookie has won a pole position this season.
· DID YOU KNOW? At least one Raybestos® Rookie had a led a lap in each of
the past two fall races at Martinsville. In addition to Ryan Newman last
year, Kevin Harvick, Casey Atwood, and Kurt Busch all led the 2001 event at the
.526-mile Virginia speedway. Prior to 2001, Ricky Craven was the most recent
first year driver to lead at Martinsville in the fall. He led once for two laps
in the 1995 event.
· Jimmie Johnson was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in last year at
Martinsville. He placed sixth and was the only freshman driver to finish inside
the top-10.
· Ryan Newman won the pole for last year's Subway 500 at Martinsville
Speedway. The pole was one of six that Newman would win in 2002, a record for
first-year drivers. Newman led the race once for 33 laps and was the only rookie
to lead a lap at Martinsville Speedway during the 2002 season.
· McMurray is the only Raybestos® Rookie to lead a lap since the Chevy Rock
and Roll 400 September 6 at Richmond International Raceway (four races ago).
He led three times for a total of 20 laps in the EA Sports 500 at Talladega
and led once for one lap at the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Charlotte.
· TWO Raybestos® Rookies have finished in the top 10 in two races this
season: the Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (McMurray finished
fourth and Biffle placed tenth) and the MBNA America 400 at Dover International
Speedway (McMurray finished sixth and Biffle placed seventh).
· With Biffle's win in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway, a
Raybestos® Rookie has now won at least one race in each of the last five
seasons dating back to Tony Stewart's win at Richmond International Raceway in
September, 1999. Other freshman drivers to win: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Richmond,
2000), Matt Kenseth (Charlotte, 2000), Kevin Harvick (Atlanta, 2001), Newman (New
Hampshire 2002), and Jimmie Johnson (California and both 2002 Dover races).
The record for most wins by a Raybestos® Rookie is three, shared by Johnson
(2002) and Stewart (1999).
· The way to the Winston Cup championship is to win Raybestos® Rookie of
the Year. Since 1979, five Raybestos® Rookie of the Year drivers have won the
title: Dale Earnhardt (1979), Rusty Wallace (1984), Alan Kulwicki (1986), Jeff
Gordon (1993), and Stewart (1999).
· A Raybestos® Rookie has posted multiple victories five times in NASCAR
Winston Cup history: Davey Allison (two wins in 1987), Stewart (three wins in
1999), Earnhardt Jr. (two wins in 2000), Harvick (two wins in 2001), and Johnson
(three wins in 2002).
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