MBNA 400: A Salute to Heroes - Raybestos® Rookie Notes

ADVANCE MATERIAL FROM RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDERS BRIAN VICKERS AND SCOTT RIGGS FOR THE JUNE 4 MBNA AMERICA 400 NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES RACE AT DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY.

Raybestos® Rookie Contender Brian Vickers won the September Busch Series race at Dover and finished in the top-five in the June race. He enters the MBNA America 400 second in the NEXTEL Cup Raybestos Rookie standings, 42 points behind leader Kasey Kahne.

BRIAN VICKERS, #25 GMAC CHEVROLET: "I've always enjoyed going to Dover. I think it's a really fun racetrack. I like Bristol and it's a lot like Bristol, except faster and bigger. I think it makes for some good racing. At Dover, which is uncommon for a concrete racetrack, it actually gets to be two-wide racetrack. You even see people in the third groove sometimes so the racing is good. It's really fast but you can actually still rub a little bit. You can still short-track race but man, you're still going pretty good and you've got the banking to support you if you get a little loose or something." HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO QUALIFY THERE? "I enjoy it. I've always liked qualifying and I like qualifying at that racetrack. It's fun, you can really attack the racetrack and the corners." IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE IN ONE CORNER, CAN YOU MAKE UP FOR IT IN THE OTHER END OF THE SPEEDWAY? "I think so because usually a track with a lot of banking like that and a lot of grip, you can bobble a little bit and you can still stay in it. You don't have to get all the way out because you're not chasing it all the way across the racetrack like a flat track." THE CUP RACE IS TWICE AS LONG AS THE BUSCH RACE. HOW BIG OF A FACTOR IS THE LENGTH OF THE RACE GOING TO BE? "It's going to be a factor. We're just going to have to be sure to stay on top of the car and adjust during the race. That track changes a lot during the race. The concrete will really change when it gets a lot of rubber on it. We've seen that a lot this year and even saw it last year in the Busch race, how the track changed during the race." IS RACING AT DOVER PHYSICALLY DEMANDING? "It is pretty physically demanding, actually, especially if it's real hot."

Scott Riggs finished in the top-five in both Busch Series races at Dover in 2003. He is sixth in the NEXTEL Cup Raybestos Rookie standings entering Sunday's race at Dover.

SCOTT RIGGS, #10 VALVOLINE CHEVROLET: "I've had a lot of good runs at Dover. That's the kind of place that if you've got a good car it's fun to run and fun to race. If you don't have a good car, though, it's not fun to race [laughs]. The very first time I went there I didn't have that good of a car and it was pretty scary the whole race. I've always had a lot of grip with the concrete surface and the banking so I look forward to going there." WILL THE CUP CAR BE RADICALLY DIFFERENT THAN THE BUSCH CAR? "I don't think so. I think that if anything might be a little different is how hard you can charge the corner with the Cup car. The Cup car might have a little more horsepower and run a little faster getting in the corner so you might have to back off a little earlier. The Busch car, you could really sink it off in there pretty hard and I find that true of a lot of places and I'm sure Dover will be the same." ARE YOU ON THE RAGGED EDGE THERE? "You're pulling a lot of G-forces. You've got a lot of grip and you're pulling a lot of G-forces down into the banking and that's what enables us to run so fast through the corners and get around that place so fast. Ragged edge? You hope not. Hopefully you have the car where it's good and stable and you can be really aggressive with the wheel. If you're free at all there you're in trouble. The track usually tightens up during the race and you are usually working the whole time to try and free the car up so it will turn better so you can keep charging into the corners hard." IS ADJUSTING TO THE NEW CARS AND NEW TIRES GOING TO HARD AT DOVER? "I haven't looked to see what tire we're running, which tire we're running. A lot of places that we've been this year the tire compound has worked out like Bristol. You really didn't see a lot of difference there because of the tire that we had there. I hope that's the kind of tire that we carry to Dover that's something that won't be too drastically different the way it feels."

NEWS AND NOTES FROM THE RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDERS - NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES

· Kasey Kahne was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Kahne finished 12th and took Raybestos® Rookie of the Race honors for the sixth time this season. Kahne leaves Charlotte with a 42-point lead (158-116) over Brian Vickers and Scott Wimmer in the Raybestos® Rookie standings entering the MBNA America 400 at Dover International Speedway.

· Kahne led the Charlotte race once for five laps and was the only Raybestos Rookie to lead at least one lap in the Coca-Cola 600. This is the sixth race of the season that Kahne has led at least one lap.

· Kahne enters the race at Dover 11th in the NEXTEL Cup championship standings, 78 behind 10th-place Kevin Harvick. He is the only Raybestos® Rookie in the top-20 in the points chase.

· Kahne has led more miles and laps than any other Raybestos® Rookie. Entering the Coca-Cola 600, Kahne has led 18 times in five races for a total of 473.81 miles (293 laps). Other freshman drivers to lead at least one lap this season: Brian Vickers (three times in three races for 35 laps, 31.32 miles), Scott Wimmer (twice in two races for seven laps, 17.82 miles), Johnny Sauter (twice in two races for two laps, 2.03 miles), Brendan Gaughan (once in one race for one lap, 2.0 miles), and Scott Riggs (once in one race for one lap, 1.50 miles).

· Kahne is the only Raybestos® Rookie to lead the most laps in a NEXTEL Cup Series race this season. He led the Samsung/RadioShack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway six times for 148 laps.

DOVER RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE TIDBITS

· Jamie McMurray was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the 2003 MBNA 400 at Dover. McMurray finished 13th, the only first-year driver to finish on the lead lap.

· Only two Raybestos® Rookies have won the spring race at Dover: Jimmie Johnson and Davey Allison, who both scored their second career wins at Dover. Johnson won the 2002 race while Allison captured the 1987 event.

· Only three Raybestos® Rookies have led the most laps in the spring race at Dover: Johnson (four times for 187 laps), Allison (six times for 212 laps), and Tony Stewart in 1999 (three times for 127 laps).

· DID YOU KNOW? The most Raybestos® Rookies to finish in the top-10 in the MBNA 400 at Dover is THREE in 1979: Dale Earnhardt (fifth), Terry Labonte (sixth), and Joe Millikan (eighth).

· Two Raybestos® Rookies have finished in the top-10 in just two other spring races at Dover. In 2000, Matt Kenseth finished second and Dale Earnhardt Jr. claimed a 10th-place finish. In 2002, Johnson won the race while Ryan Newman grabbed a fifth-place finish.

· The best start by a Raybestos® Rookie in the spring race at Dover is second by Morgan Shepherd in 1981.

· Top-five finishes by Raybestos® Rookies in the spring race at Dover (since 1975):
1979: Dale Earnhardt, fifth
1982: Mark Martin, fifth
1987: Davey Allison, first
1999: Tony Stewart, fourth
2000: Matt Kenseth, second
2002: Jimmie Johnson, first
2002: Ryan Newman, fifth

· Top-10 finishes by Raybestos® Rookies in the spring race at Dover (since 1975):
1975: Bruce Hill, eighth
1979: Dale Earnhardt, fifth
1979: Terry Labonte, sixth
1979: Joe Millikan, eighth
1980: Jody Ridley, sixth
1981: Morgan Shepherd, sixth
1983: Sterling Marlin, 10th
1985: Ken Schrader, 10th
1987: Davey Allison, first
1992: Jimmy Hensley, eighth
1997: Mike Skinner, ninth
1999: Tony Stewart, fourth
2000: Matt Kenseth, second
2000: Dale Earnhardt Jr., 10th
2002: Jimmie Johnson, first
2002: Ryan Newman, fifth

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE HISTORY

· The way to the NASCAR NEXTEL 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 (2000).

· 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), 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 158
Scott Wimmer 116
Brian Vickers 116
Brendan Gaughan 115
Johnny Sauter 108
Scott Riggs 95

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
Golden Corral 500 Kasey Kahne, third
Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 Kasey Kahne, 13th
Food City 500 Scott Wimmer, 13th
Samsung/RadioShack 500 Kasey Kahne, second
Advance Auto Parts 500 Brian Vickers, 13th
Aaron's 499 Brendan Gaughan, 13th
Auto Club 500 Brendan Gaughan, sixth
Chevy American Revolution 400 Brian Vickers, eighth
Coca-Cola 600 Kasey Kahne, 12th