· Greg Biffle was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the 2003 Food City 500. Biffle finished fifth completing all 500 laps of the event. Biffle was also the top qualifying Raybestos® Rookie, grabbing the 15th starting position. Jamie McMurray, 2003 Raybestos® Rookie of the Year, posted the best finish by a rookie last year at Bristol, a third place finish in the Sharpie 500.

· For the first time since 1975, a Raybestos® Rookie has finished in the top-10 in the last two consecutive Food City 500 races at Bristol: Biffle and Jimmie Johnson (seventh in 2003).

· A Raybestos® Rookie has finished in the top-10 in three of the last four races at Bristol: Jimmie Johnson (seventh in 2002 Food City 500), Biffle, and McMurray.

· The most recent Raybestos® Rookie to lead a lap at Bristol is Kevin Harvick. Harvick led three times for 137 laps, more than any other driver, in the 2000 Food City 500 (six races ago).

· The best finish by a Raybestos® Rookie in the Food City 500 came in 1979 when Dale Earnhardt scored his first career win. Since Earnhardt's victory, only three drivers have finished in the top-five in the spring race: Morgan Shepherd (fourth in 1981), Dick Trickle (fifth in 1989), and Greg Biffle (fifth in 2003).

· Tony Stewart is the only Raybestos® Rookie to win the pole at Bristol, taking the top spot in the 1999 Sharpie 500. Stewart led the most laps in the race and remains the only Raybestos® Rookie to accomplish the feat. He led the 1999 Sharpie 500 once for 225 laps.

· Only once since 1975 have THREE Raybestos® Rookies finished in the top-10 at a race in Bristol: 1979. Dale Earnhardt scored his first career win in the Food City 500 and was joined in the top-10 by Terry Labonte (seventh) and Joe Millikan (eighth).

· Only once since 1981 have TWO or more Raybestos® Rookies finished in the top-five in the Food City 500. Morgan Shepherd placed fourth and Tim Richmond finished 10th in 1981. Later than same season, Ron Bouchard (fifth) and Richmond finished in the top-10 in the August race. Two or more Raybestos® Rookies have not finished in the top-10 in BOTH Bristol races since the 1981 season.

· A Raybestos® Rookie has finished in the top-10 just three times in the Food City 500 (spring race) at Bristol: Robert Pressley (10th in 1995), Jimmie Johnson (seventh in 2002), and Greg Biffle (fifth in 2003).

· Since 1975, Tim Richmond is the only Raybestos® Rookie to score top-10 finishes in both Bristol races. In 1981, Richmond finished 10th in the Food City 500 and 10th in the Sharpie 500.

JOHNNY SAUTER, #30 AMERICA ONLINE CHEVROLET:

"That's a fun, haul-the-mail- type of joint. It's a racetrack where you have to be up on the wheel every lap and it's a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I haven't had a lot of success there. I've pretty much crashed every time I've been there but it's still a lot of fun." ISTHAT A TRACK WHERE A VETERAN DRIVER WILL TRY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF A RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE? "I think so. I think that goes for anywhere but especially at Bristol because it's such a give and take, move or be moved type atmosphere and I don't think the yellow stripe does you any favors, to say the least." THERE IS A LOT OF CONTACT IN SHORT TRACK RACING. HOW CAN YOU TELL WHAT IS AN INTENTIONAL BUMP? "Usually when you start spinning around and you are back in the wall, that's too much but if you knock them out of the way and they don't wreck it's okay [laughs]. That's the reality of it." IS THE ONLY WAY TO PASS THERE TO PUSH SOMEBODY OUT OF THE WAY? "Sometimes. These cars are so equal these days, I mean, sometimes that's the only way to do it unless you have a super dominant racecar then you don't have to. But for the most part it's give and take and it's survival of the fittest." IS TRAFFIC THE BIG ISSUE THERE? "I think so. I mean, any short track traffic is the big deal, especially if a guy's car isn't right on the money or close to it. It's easy to get lapped in a hurray so obviously lap traffic becomes an issue. I'd say traffic is one of you biggest enemies."

KASEY KAHNE, #9 DODGE DEALERS/UAW DODGE:

"I've had good races and bad races there. It's a tough track but I like it, though. It's fun to go to tracks like that and see the atmosphere of the crowd. It's pretty neat. The tight racing, bump and bang a little bit, that's probably where I struggle the most at of any track. I'm excited to go there and test next week and go back and race." DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST RACE THERE? "Yeah, I remember my first race there. It was an experience. I think I spun around three or four times throughout the race and once in practice so it was a long weekend." DO YOU THINK GUYS BUMP YOU AROUND MORE BECAUSE YOU HAVE A YELLOW STRIPE? "It might. I think everyone gets bumped around there if you are in the wrong place. If there is a car behind you that's faster a lot of times they will just move you up the track a little bit and that's kind of how you have to do it on some of the short tracks. But with that rookie stripe you probably get bumped around a little more." YOUR INTERMEDIATE PROGRAM HAS BEEN GREAT SO FAR THIS SEASON. HOW ABOUT THE SHORT TRACK PROGRAM? "Well, that's the thing. That's probably where I struggle the most in stock cars is still the short tracks yet I have a lot of experience there from the open wheel cars. I think working with Tommy [Baldwin, crew chief] who always runs really good on short track and has some really good packages will help us a lot. He helped us some last year at the end of the year with my Busch car. We ran in the top-five at Phoenix until we had an incident there. Hopefully I will learn a lot and do a lot better working with Tommy Baldwin." YOU HAVE THE REPUTATION OF BEING COOL UNDER FIRE. WILL THAT HELP YOU AT BRISTOL? "I think you need that patience there but at the same time you've got to be pretty aggressive not get pushed around and moved out of the way. It might play to my advantage for a quarter of the race but the other three-quarters we're going to have to be a little more aggressive, I think."

SCOTT RIGGS, #10 VALVOLINE CHEVROLET:

"Hopefully, we can have a pretty good show there. Of course, we're carrying a lot different tire, the same tire that we ran at Vegas is going to Bristol so I'm really curious and anxious to see when we get down there next week and do some testing how much that really changes the racetrack and the feel of the car. In general I like any place with a lot of banking. It seems like you have a lot there to catch you and you can really drive the car off in the corner pretty hard. I like Bristol a lot. For some reason, I've always had a pretty good showing there every time I've been there in a Busch car. We were on our way to picking up a victory there last year until we got crashed and had a couple of flat tires a couple of times there. We've had good cars at Bristol and ran well, just never had a good finish there or a win like we need." IS IT FRUSTRATING THAT MOST OF THE TIME YOU DON'T CONTROL YOUR FATE AT BRISTOL? "There's a lot of factors that are involved in having a good day and not having a good day. All we can do is the thing that we can control and that's work on these racecars and try to make them the best that we can and good communication between myself and the team. Lady Luck always has to shine one way or the other, but you make the most of your destiny."

BRIAN VICKERS, #25 GMAC FINANCIAL SERVICES CHEVROLET:

"It's definitely one of the tracks I'm looking forward to going to and it's one of my most favorite tracks. I think it's one of the best tracks for the fans. I think it will be a good track for us in this Raybestos® Rookie of the Year challenge because it is one that I enjoy." WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST EXPEREINCE LIKE AT BRISTOL? "Breathtaking, by far. It was breathtaking when you walk in that place and see how big it is and the grandstands, the banking and everything about it, the atmosphere. And it was breathtaking the first couple of laps you take. You turn your first five laps there and you come in and catch your breath. It's like 'Whew, wow.' It's amazing. It probably has the fastest sensation of any track that we go to and it puts on an amazing show." HOW DO YOU RACE THERE WITH ALL THE BUMPING AND BANGING? "It's tough. You've got to keep one eye in the mirror and one eye ahead because you're constantly getting beat on from behind and you are constantly beating on people in front of you. It's real tight and it's tough. It's a very, very tough racetrack. The car has to be physically built tough, you've got to be mentally tough and prepared for the entire race to be able to make it the whole way." DO YOU LIKE RACING AT BRISTOL BECAUSE IF YOU GET A DING IN THE FRONT OF THE CAR IT WILL HAMPER THE AERODYNAMICS? IS THAT A RELIEF? "Yeah, I think it is. You can't just knock the fenders off but at the same time you're not nearly as concerned about it there as you do here [Atlanta]. You can bump a little bit without wrecking somebody and I enjoy that; it's fun for me. That's the biggest problem I have with open wheel racing: when somebody blocked me I wouldn't be able to hit them." DO YOU THINK PEOPLE WILL TRY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOU BECAUSE OF THE YELLOW STRIPE? WILL THEY LEAN ON YOU A LITTLE HARDER? "These drivers are trying to figure out who and what I am and how I'm going to race them. They're going to lean on me. They're going to see how far they can push me before they tick me off because that's what they want to know and that's what I want to know about them, how far I can lean on them before they react in a way that could take me out of race. That's going to happen a lot at those tracks. Tempers flare there. They are going to lean on me and they're going to see how far they can push me. I have a pretty long fuse but at the end of it there's a big bomb and most of them know that. Hopefully they will understand and learn that."

SCOTT WIMMER, #22 CATERPILLAR DODGE:

"I always like going to Bristol. It's kind of getting back to what I'm used to running, growing up on the short tracks. It brings a lot of excitement back. It's something that we don't do a whole lot is run real tiny little short tracks like that but anytime we can it's a lot of fun." HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A TRACK LIKE BRISTOL? "We've got a track real similar to it back up in Wisconsin called Slinger Speedway but it's even shorter. It's smaller than Bristol, a little quarter-mile that's high banked and fast. I love racing there and still to this day love going back there. We run at least one race a year there. Matt [Kenseth] and I go back and run up there. It's real enjoyable, something that I have a lot of fun doing. Hopefully we can get through Bristol this year. It seems like we always had real good success there. We ran real well in the Busch car, just never could seal the deal and win one." WHAT DO YOU ENJOY ABOUT RACING THERE? "You have to have concentration every second of every single lap. There's no relaxing down the straightaways or even under caution you can't really relax because there's so many things happening. It's just a place that gets you really excited. The fans and the size of the stands and the people that come out to watch a race there is just amazing. It really gets all the drivers really fired up." WHAT WOULD BE A GOOD DAY FOR YOU AT BRISTOL? "It seems like if you can run in the top-10 at Bristol and keep the fenders on the car you have a pretty good day. I think that's our goal pretty much every weekend is to run in the top-10 and try to keep the fenders on it the best that we can. I know that Bristol is going to be tougher than other places but we'll definitely shoot for that top-10 and definitely be there at the end of the race."

BRENDAN GAUGHAN, #77 KODAK EASY SHARE DODGE: