BRIAN VICKERS, #25 GMAC CHEVROLET: (Notes: Vickers enters the Dodge/Save Mart 350 fresh off a ninth place finish in the DHL 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Vickers scored his second top-10 of the 2004 season and second of his 20-race NEXTEL Cup Series career. He has started sixth or better in each of the last six NEXTEL Cup Series races, a streak that began at the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway [race number 10]. He enters Sunday's race at Sonoma second in the RaybestosŪ Rookie standings behind leader Kasey Kahne.) "I'm looking forward to it. I haven't run a whole lot of road courses in my day but I do enjoy them, the ones I have run and the testing we've done, I've had a lot of fun with it. The track has new pavement and it's real smooth. I like the elevation changes but it seems like a really nice racetrack. We really didn't do that much passing out there. There weren't many cars there and we didn't get a chance to look at all that. That is something that I will probably lean on Jeff [Gordon] more and see where the passing zones are. The area was cool. We seem to do pretty good so I'm happy about that. We'll see what happens when we go back out there." YOU'VE GOT TO BE PLEASED WITH HOW MUCH THE TEAM HAS IMPROVED SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON. "The team is really starting to come into their own. We're doing better and better every week. We've just got to continue that momentum and keep doing good."
SHANE WILSON, CREW CHIEF, #77 KODAK EASY SHARE DODGE: (Notes: Wilson will call his first NEXTEL Cup Series road course race Sunday at Sonoma. Wilson is the crew chief for Raybestos Rookie Brendan Gaughan, who led the DHL 400 at Michigan once for 13 laps.) "We actually tested Virginia International Raceway the last two Wednesdays just to get acclimated and to start thinking road course. I have some experience helping some Busch North teams [on a road course] and I also did a Winston West race at Laguna Seca and some testing there. You've just got to get in the mode. As soon as we're done at Michigan you've got to think road racing for a strong week. A lot of things change. For example, you scale the car differently and you've got
to think a lot of different ways. Whoever gets acclimated to it the best will have the best runs out there." WHAT IS GOING TO BE YOUR PIT STRATEGY? "We will approach that more like the CART teams and Formula One teams do. As soon as you are to your fuel widow you stop. You play the race backwards and you don't want to pit under caution rather than pit under green. Most of the time you will see that the race winner is who doesn't pit under yellow. You've got to think about it differently than a circle track race because track position is important and fuel mileage, staying on course, and making all the laps is the trick." DID YOU GO TEST AT INFINEON RACEWAY? "We didn't. With scheduling and stuff we just couldn't make it. We actually went to Watkins Glen because the dates and stuff worked out better for us to do that and VIR gets us warmed up for Infineon and that was the best circumstances we could put together." WILL THE ROAD COURSE RACE SIMPLIFY THE NEW PIT PROCEDURE? "I think it will be because everybody in NASCAR will get better at it. I don't know what a caution lap is around Sonoma but it will be a couple of minutes versus one minute. It will probably be even four minutes so they will have more time to figure it all out. I think after the last few weeks they will be up on their game and it will be very cut and dry I'm sure." DO YOU HAVE A LOT OF CONFIDENCE IN BRENDAN AS A ROAD COURSE RACER? "He likes it so that's half the battle. You've got to have someone that likes it and wants to do it and we all just got to start thinking that way. When we walk out of Michigan we've got to be thinking road racing. A lot of people do that for a living or their hobby or that's their form of racing and most of us have all been oval track racers. I've gotten a little sniff of it a few times and you've got to start thinking that way and how those guys think. I've talked to a lot of guys that have been successful in road racing a little bit. I feel pretty confident." DO YOU ENJOY ROAD COURSE RACING? "I really like going to road courses. I went with Steve Hibbard who has been a Busch North crew chief for a lot of different deals up there and he's a friend of mine. He took me to Watkins Glen for the first time and he's very good. He actually won a race as a crew chief a couple of weeks ago with Brad Leighton up at Lime Rock so I've talked to him a lot and he likes it and I've learned to like it, especially going to Watkins Glen and Sears Point which are beautiful parts of the country. I also enjoy the road racing so it's the best of both worlds."
SCOTT WIMMER, #22 CATERPILLAR DODGE: HOW HAVE YOU PREPARED FOR THE DODGE/SAVE MART 350? "We've been doing a lot of testing. We had a really good two-day test out there and we went up to VIR [Virginia International Raceway] for a day to get a little more acquainted with shifting and braking points and things like that. I feel real good going back there. I don't think we're going to be a contender for the pole or anything like that but I think we can go out and run real strong and keep the car on the course all day. It seems like if you can do that you can have a good finish and have some luck with the pit stops and the cautions. You always gamble there and you can usually get lucky and hopefully have a good strong day." WHAT WERE YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE TRACK? "I've never been there before
and they said they had just paved it. I couldn't believe how smooth it was. It was really nice and smooth. It was gorgeous to drive around. The thing that impressed me was the change in height. You go up a hill and back down the hill. It really doesn't seem like a whole lot in the car but when you get out and look at the track from the outside it is a pretty big uphill climb. That was probably the biggest thing that was noticeable to me. It's a fun course. It's got some real technical parts to it and then it's got some stuff that not real technical. I'm going to enjoy going out there and hopefully we can stay out of trouble and come home with a straight racecar and a decent finish." WHAT DID YOU LEARN TO MAKE THE CAR HANDLE BETTER? "They said handling was a lot more important in the past year but now with the new pavement handling doesn't come into play as much. We played around with rear springs and sway bars, kind of the normal thing that you would do at any track, just kind of backwards because you're turning more right than left. It was a lot of fun. The first day we didn't change a whole lot. We were just trying to get me used to the track. I was fortunate that Ricky Rudd helped me out there. He's really good at road courses and really good at Sonoma. We had a couple good people out there helping me, Matt Riley who's from California was helping me out, and Tom Hubert who is a real good road course racer, too. I've definitely got a lot of notes to look at and a lot of help to rely on and now it's my job to put it all together." IS IT INTIMIDATING TO GO TO A ROAD COURSE BECAUSE YOU'VE NEVER BEEN THERE BEFORE? "I don't really think so. I had a blast out there basically because you really don't know what you're doing [laughs]. If you're not a road racer you really don't know how to road race. It's fun to shift gears and really abuse the car a lot. At ovals you've got to worry about smashing the fenders and the valance in stuff like that. At a road course you can run through the grass and just get right back up on the course and keep going. It doesn't really affect the car a whole lot. The biggest thing out there I think is keeping your equipment together: keeping the transmission in it and your brakes under it and not wheel hopping. I'm not really intimidated. We've been out there testing now and I have done some other road course stuff so it's actually going to be a lot of fun." IS THERE ONE TURN AT INFINEON MORE CHALLENGING THAN THE OTHERS? "From what we found out, getting through the esses is probably the biggest thing, trying to carry all your speed in there. And from what we found from Ricky helping us out and from me driving the car, that's where we're losing all our time. We were pretty good in the other corners. It's going to take a little time. I'm sure when we get out there and get around cars and things like that I'll be able to judge myself a little better through there. Turn seven to the start finish line has been out biggest problem so we've got about three or four corners to work on. That's the beauty of road course racing: you can be off a second and a tenth in each corner will pick that up. We'll definitely go back and hopefully be competitive and we can work on those little areas."
SCOTT RIGGS, #10 VALVOLINE CHEVROLET: "We've been out there and tested so I got to get a chance to get on the racetrack. We got a chance to go out there a month and a half ago, two months, something like that, and tested for a day. It helps that I have at least seen the racetrack but haven't been on the racetrack with somebody and raced. It's good to have been able to go out there and see the racetrack and know where the turns are and be able to feel what the difference is between changes we make. I've got a great teacher with Boris Said. He's going to drive a car for MBV this weekend and that's going to be pretty cool. He shows me how far I'm off in different corners and he is absolutely the best person you could have information off of to learn and see where the speed is at. The biggest thing is learning from Boris. Boris has been a huge help. We have been to VIR [Virginia International Raceway] twice and tested. We went last week one more time to do some more testing. I feel real good about it. We're keeping our goals realistic. We're going to go out there and try to have a solid finish, stay on the track and maybe have a little pit strategy there and hopefully have a decent finish. If we can maintain and finish the race, get all the laps in and finish somewhere in the top-20, we'll feel good about that." IS IT INTIMIDATING TO GO TO A ROAD COURSE FOR THE FIRST TIME? "I've seen from looking at the data and looking at Boris' data versus mine, you can be a second and a half off and you look at it on the data and it's a little bit in this corner and a little bit in that corner. There are so many corners that add up so quick and makes such a big difference by the time you get a whole lap built up because the lap is so long, so many corners." ARE YOU GOING TO LIKE ROAD RACING? "I don't know. If we could jump out there and be competitive and run with the guys in the front and be strong I'd feel good about it. The way it looks testing wise, it's so much different than anything that I've done before, I think it's going to take a while to acquire the idea and feel of what I need to feel in every corner and how to push myself in every corner and pick up speed there. It's so much more precision driving. You hit your marks by inches. On a round track you worry about a couple of feet here and there. If you get out of the groove on a round track, you move up a groove, so what; you're still OK. But if you get out of the groove at a road course you're off the track, in the grass, and you are sliding around at the mercy of the momentum. You've just got to keep it on the track and run all day." IS ONE AREA OF THAT TRACK MORE IMPORTANT THAN ANY OTHER? "When we went there we took a couple of corners and worked on them. We felt like we got that segment pretty good and we worked on the next corners and just kept working on all of them and by the time we left we were making pretty good laps and were pretty good in all the corners. It's just a little bit in every little spot that you have to work on. Driving in a little harder, using a little more brake, and getting back to the throttle just a little bit more which seems so insignificant on such a small little corner, can add up to such a big difference by the time the lap is over."
NEWS AND NOTES FROM THE RAYBESTOSŪ ROOKIE CONTENDERS - NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES
· Kasey Kahne was the RaybestosŪ Rookie of the Race in the DHL 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Kahne finished second, his fourth second place finish of the 2004 season. He has racked up five top-five and five top-10 finishes in 15 starts. Kahne took RaybestosŪ Rookie of the Race honors for the seventh time in 15 races. He is just the fourth RaybestosŪ Rookie to score a top-five finish in the June race at Michigan since 1975. Joe Millikan (fourth in 1979), Jeff Gordon (second in 1993) and Ryan Newman (third in 2002) are the others.
· Kahne jumped from 13th to 11th in the NEXTEL Cup Series championship standings following the race at Michigan, 399 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson. If the 26-race portion of the season was over, Kahne would be eligible for the Chase for the Championship by just one point.
· The DHL 400 is just the second race this season where TWO or more RaybestosŪ Rookies finished in the top-10 (Brian Vickers finished ninth).
· Kahne stretched his lead to 50 points (196-146) over Vickers in the chase for RaybestosŪ Rookie of the Year entering the Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.
· Vickers scored a ninth place finish at Michigan, his second top-10 of the 2004 season and second of his 20-race NEXTEL Cup Series career.
· Two Raybestos RookiesŪ led the DHL 400: Brendan Gaughan (once for 13 laps) and Scott Riggs (once for one lap). Gaughan led for the first time since the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway (race number 10) while Riggs took the lead for the first time since the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (race number three).
· DID YOU KNOW? TWO RaybestosŪ Rookies have led at least one lap in the last two consecutive NEXTEL Cup races entering the Dodge/Save Mart 350. Two or more RaybestosŪ Rookies have led a lap in SEVEN of the 15 races this season.
· Vickers claimed the second starting position at Michigan, just .138 second behind pole winner Jeff Gordon. Vickers has qualified sixth or better in the last six consecutive races entering the Dodge/Save Mart 350.
· Kahne (once for 36 laps) and Brian Vickers (once for seven laps) led at Pocono, the SIXTH race this season where two or more RaybestosŪ Rookies have led at least one lap. The other races: Las Vegas (Kahne and Vickers), Texas (Kahne and Sauter), Talladega (Wimmer and Vickers), and California (Kahne, Gaughan, and Vickers) and Dover (Kahne and Vickers). The Pocono 500 is the second consecutive race where both Kahne and Vickers each led at least one lap.
· Kahne has led more miles and laps than any other RaybestosŪ Rookie. Entering the Sonoma race, Kahne has led 23 times in eight races for a total of 527.31 miles (338 laps). Other freshman drivers to lead at least one lap this season: Brian Vickers (five times in five races for 43 laps, 40.82 miles), Brendan Gaughan (twice in two races for 14 laps, 28.0 miles), Scott Wimmer (twice in two races for seven laps, 17.82 miles), Scott Riggs (twice in two races for two laps, 3.50 miles), and Johnny Sauter (twice in two races for two laps, 2.03 miles).
· Kahne is the only RaybestosŪ 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.
INFINEON RACEWAY RAYBESTOSŪ ROOKIE TIDBITS
· Jamie McMurray was the Raybestos Rookie of the Race in the 2003 Dodge/Save Mart 350, claiming a 20th place finish.
· The best finish by a RaybestosŪ Rookie at Infineon Raceway is ninth, which is shared by Kenny Irwin (1998) and Ryan Newman (2002).
· DID YOU KNOW? Only one RaybestosŪ Rookie has led a lap in 15 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup races at Infineon Raceway. Scott Pruett led twice for 10 laps in the 2000 race.
· The best start by a RaybestosŪ Rookie at Infineon Raceway is second by Tony Stewart in 1999.
RAYBESTOSŪ ROOKIE HISTORY
· The way to the NASCAR NEXTEL championship is to win RaybestosŪ Rookie of the Year. Since 1979, six RaybestosŪ Rookie of the Year drivers have gone on to win a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup title: Dale Earnhardt (1979), Rusty Wallace (1984), Alan Kulwicki (1986), Jeff Gordon (1993), Tony Stewart (1999), and Matt Kenseth (2000).
· A RaybestosŪ 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 RaybestosŪ Rookie is three, shared by Johnson (2002) and Stewart (1999).
RAYBESTOSŪ ROOKIE CONTENDER POINT STANDINGS
DRIVER POINTS
Kasey Kahne 196
Scott Wimmer 146
Brian Vickers 145
Brendan Gaughan 136
Scott Riggs 128
Johnny Sauter 117
HIGHEST FINISHING RAYBESTOSŪ 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
MBNA 400 "A Salute to Heroes" Scott Riggs, fifth
Pocono 500 Brian Vickers, 13th
DHL 400 Kasey Kahne, second
