NEWS AND NOTES FROM THE RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDERS – NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES
Kyle Busch was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway. Busch finished 23rd and took top rookie honors for the first time this season. Busch and Travis Kvapil are tied for the lead in the Raybestos® Rookie standings (21-21) entering the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Kasey Kahne was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the 2004 UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400. Kahne finished second after leading the race twice for 43 laps.
Only two Raybestos® Rookies have posted top-five finishes at Las Vegas: Kahne and Ryan Newman (fourth in 2002). Newman was the first Raybestos® Rookie to score a top-five finish at Las Vegas.
Kahne became the first Raybestos® Rookie to win the pole for the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400. Kahne won his first career pole in his third NEXTEL Cup Series start.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the first Raybestos® Rookie to score a top-10 finish at Las Vegas. Earnhardt Jr. scored a 10th-place finish in 2000. He was also the first freshman driver to lead a lap at Las Vegas, holding the top spot four times for 42 laps.
At least one Raybestos® Rookie 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, Ryan Newman (fourth) and Jimmie Johnson (sixth) in 2002, and Kahne (second in 2004).
First time two or more Raybestos® Rookies finished in the top-10: Kevin Harvick and Ron Hornaday in 2001. Two or more Raybestos® Rookies have finished in the top-10 twice in seven races at Las Vegas. Newman (fourth) and Jimmie Johnson (sixth) also accomplished the feat in 2002.
The first time two or more Raybestos® Rookies led at least one lap came in 2002. Newman led three times for 49 laps and Johnson led once for six laps. Newman still holds the record for most laps led by a Raybestos® Rookie at Las Vegas.
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 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).
At least one Raybestos® Rookie has won a Bud Pole in each of the
last nine years. (1996-2004). There has been a first-time Bud Pole winner in each of the last 18 years (1987-2004).
RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER POINT STANDINGS
DRIVER POINTS
Travis Kvapil 21
Kyle Busch 21
Eric McClure 2
HIGHEST FINISHING RAYBESTOS® ROOKIES BY RACE
EVENT HIGHEST FINISHING ROOKIE
Daytona 500 Travis Kvapil, 19th
Auto Club 500 Kyle Busch, 23rd
