Golden Corral 500 - Raybestos® Rookie Notes

· Kasey Kahne was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kahne finished second, 3.426 seconds behind winner Matt Kenseth. He used his good finish to take the lead in the chase for Raybestos® Rookie of the Year. Kahne leads Scott Wimmer by 12 points (46-34) entering the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

· The Las Vegas race was the third consecutive event where a Raybestos® Rookie has finished in the top-three. Scott Wimmer was third at Daytona and Kahne finished second at Rockingham and Las Vegas.

· Kahne won the pole for the Las Vegas event, the ninth consecutive season a Raybestos® Rookie has won a pole position. Kahne's first career pole came in just his third career start, tying Mark Martin and Ryan Newman for the quickest that a driver has won a Bud Pole in the modern era.

· Three Raybestos® Rookies earned top-10 starts at Las Vegas: Kahne, Vickers (third) and Brendan Gaughan (eighth).

· A Raybestos® Rookie has finished in the top-10 in each of the last FIVE NEXTEL Cup races: Tony Raines (sixth at Rockingham, November 2003), Jamie McMurray (ninth at Homestead, November 2003), Scott Wimmer (third at Daytona, February, 2004), and Kasey Kahne (second at Rockingham, February 2004 and second, Las Vegas in March of 2004).

· At least one Raybestos® Rookie has now finished in the top-10 in four of the last five races at Las Vegas: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (10th) in 2000, Kevin Harvick (eighth) and Ron Hornaday (ninth) in 2001, and Ryan Newman (fourth) and Jimmie Johnson (sixth) in 2002.

· Kahne became the first Raybestos® Rookie to lead a lap this season. He held the top spot twice for 43 laps.

· Scott Riggs led the Las Vegas race once for one lap, the first time in his NEXTEL Cup career that he has led a lap.

· Wimmer was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the Daytona 500, grabbing a third place finish. He scored the best finish by a first-year driver since Jeff Gordon placed fifth in 1993 and was the only Raybestos® Rookie to place inside the top-15.

· DID YOU KNOW? The late Kenny Irwin holds the record for most laps led by a Raybestos® Rookie in the spring race at Atlanta. In 1998, Irwin led five times for 112 laps.

ATLANTA RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE TIDBITS

· Kevin Harvick scored a memorable win as a Raybestos® Rookie in the 2001 Golden Corral 500. He beat Jeff Gordon by just .006 seconds to capture his first NEXTEL Cup Series victory in just his third career start.

· Since 1987, SIX Raybestos® Rookies have posted a top-five finish in the spring race at Atlanta: Harvick, Jimmie Johnson (third in 2002), Dick Trickle (third in 1989), Jeff Burton (fourth in 1994), Davey Allison (fifth in 1987), and Kenny Irwin (fifth in 1998).

· TWO Raybestos® Rookies have finished in the top-10 in the spring race at Atlanta Motor Speedway three times: Jody Ridley (sixth) and Slick Johnson (10th) in 1980, Dick Trickle (third) and Hut Stricklin (eighth) in 1989, and Jimmie Johnson (third) and Ryan Newman (10th) in 2002.

· From 1978 until 1982, at least one Raybestos® Rookie finished in the top-10 in the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, a streak of five consecutive races: Connie Saylor (eighth in 1978), Joe Millikan (eighth in 1979), Jody Ridley (sixth) and Slick Johnson (sixth and 10th, respectably, in 1980), Morgan Shepherd (eighth in 1981), and Jim Sauter (10th in 1982).

· Raybestos® Rookies Robby Gordon (1997) and Johnny Benson (1996) scored their first career Bud Poles in back to back spring races at Atlanta. Gordon won the pole in his 11th career start while Benson took the top spot in just his fourth career start.

· The way to the Winston Cup championship is to win Raybestos® Rookie of the Year. Since 1979, six Raybestos® Rookie of the Year drivers have won the title: Dale Earnhardt (1979), Rusty Wallace (1984), Alan Kulwicki (1986), Jeff Gordon (1993), Tony Stewart (1999), and Matt Kenseth (2004).

· A Raybestos® Rookie has 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), and Greg Biffle (Pepsi 400 at Daytona 2003). The record for most wins by a Raybestos® Rookie is three, shared by Johnson (2002) and Stewart (1999).

  
RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER POINT STANDINGS

DRIVER         POINTS
Kasey Kahne        46
Scott Wimmer       34
Johnny Sauter      27
Brendan Gaughan    27
Brian Vickers      24
Scott Riggs        21
   
HIGHEST FINISHING RAYBESTOS® ROOKIES BY RACE

EVENT                    HIGHEST FINISHING ROOKIE
Daytona 500              Scott Wimmer, third
Subway 400               Kasey Kahne, second
UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400  Kasey Kahne, second