NEWS AND NOTES FROM THE RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDERS – NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES
Reed Sorenson was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the March 20 Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway. Sorenson finished 10th, his first top-10 finish in six NEXTEL Cup Series starts and took top rookie honors for the first time this season. The finish was the best effort of Sorenson’s NEXTEL Cup career. His previous best effort came February 26 at California Speedway where he logged a 21st-place finish.
FOUR RACES, FOUR DIFFERENT FACES: A different driver has claimed the honor in each of the first four NEXTEL Cup Series races in 2006.
A Raybestos® Rookie has finished in the top 10 in all four NEXTEL Cup Series races this season.
Clint Bowyer holds a five-point advantage over J.J. Yeley (43-38) in the Raybestos® Rookie standings entering the March 26 Food City 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
Bowyer is the only Raybestos® Rookie that ranks in the top 10 in the NEXTEL Cup Series championship standings. He is currently 10th entering the Bristol event, 19 behind ninth-place Dale Jarrett.
Travis Kvapil was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the 2005 Food City 500 at Bristol, grabbing a seventh-place finish. Kvapil was the only freshman driver to finish in the top-10 on the lead lap.
DID YOU KNOW? A Raybestos® Rookie has finished in the top-10 in three of the last four Food City 500 races at Bristol: Kvapil, Greg Biffle (fifth in 2003) and Jimmie Johnson (seventh in 2002).
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 Biffle (fifth in 2003).
Tony Stewart is the only Raybestos® Rookie to win the pole at Bristol in his rookie season. Stewart took the top spot in the 1999 Sharpie 500 (August race) at Bristol. He is also the only Raybestos® Rookie to lead the most laps in a race at Bristol, leading the 1999 Sharpie 500 once for 225 laps.
DID YOU KNOW? Only once since 1975 have THREE Raybestos® Rookies finished in the top-10 at a race in Bristol. In 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).
DID YOU KNOW? Only once since 1981 have TWO or more Raybestos® Rookies finished in the top-five in the Food City 500. In 1981, Morgan Shepherd placed fourth and Tim Richmond finished 10th.
Since 1975, A Raybestos® Rookie has finished in the top-10 just four times in the Food City 500 at Bristol: Robert Pressley (10th in 1995), Jimmie Johnson (seventh in 2002), Greg Biffle (fifth in 2003) and Travis Kvapil (seventh in 2005).
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.
Two or more Raybestos® Rookies have finished in the top-10 in both races at Bristol just once since 1975. In 1981, Morgan Shepherd (fourth) and Tim Richmond (10th) logged top-10 finished in the Food City 500 while Ron Bouchard (fifth) and Richmond (eighth) finished in the top-10 in the Sharpie 500.
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, 2005) and Kenseth (2000).
At least one Raybestos® Rookie has won a Bud Pole in each of the
last 10 years (1996-2005). There has been a first-time Bud Pole winner in each of the last 19 years (1987-2005).
RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER POINT STANDINGS
DRIVER POINTS
Clint Bowyer 43
J.J. Yeley 38
Denny Hamlin 35
Martin Truex, Jr. 35
Reed Sorenson 31
David Stremme 27
Brent Sherman 25
HIGHEST-FINISHING RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE BY RACE
EVENT HIGHEST-FINISHING ROOKIE
Daytona 500 Clint Bowyer, sixth
Auto Club 500 J.J. Yeley, eighth
UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Denny Hamlin, 10th
Golden Corral 500 Reed Sorenson, 10th
