Race 2 Win: GFS Marketplace 400 - Raybestos® Rookie Notes

Nextel Cup Series

GFS Marketplace 400 - Raybestos® Rookie Notes

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

Denny Hamlin was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the August 13 AMD at the Glen at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International. Hamlin finished 10th and took top rookie honors for the 12th time this season. He collected his 10th top-10 of the 2006 season and scored the best finish by a first-year driver on a road course this season.

Hamlin maintains a comfortable lead in the Raybestos® Rookie standings. He holds a 44-point edge (233-189) over Clint Bowyer entering the August 20 GFS Marketplace 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

WIX Filters is an associate sponsor for Joe Gibbs Racing. WIX Filters and Raybestos® brand brakes are members of the Affinia family of brands.

Hamlin is eighth in the NEXTEL Cup Series championship standings. He is 12 points behind seventh-place Tony Stewart and 26 ahead of ninth-place Jeff Gordon.

THE STREAK STAYS ALIVE: A Raybestos® Rookie has finished in the top 15 in all 22 races this season.

Reed Sorenson was the only Raybestos® Rookie to lead a lap at Watkins Glen, holding the top spot once for two laps. Sorenson is the first Raybestos® Rookie to lead a lap on a road course since Brendan Gaughan at Watkins Glen in 2004.

DID YOU KNOW? Hamlin is the first Raybestos® Rookie since Jimmie Johnson in 2002 to post a multiple-win season in the NEXTEL Cup Series. A Raybestos® Rookie has now posted multiple victories SEVEN times in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series history. The others: Davey Allison (two wins in 1987), Tony Stewart (three wins in 1999), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (two wins in 2000), Kevin Harvick (two wins in 2001), Jimmie Johnson (three wins in 2002), and Kyle Busch (two wins in 2005).

DID YOU KNOW? The most Raybestos® Rookies to finish in the top-10 this season is THREE in the July 9 USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagoland (Joliet, Ill.) Speedway: Reed Sorenson (seventh), Bowyer (ninth) and J.J. Yeley (10th).

Hamlin is the only Raybestos® Rookie to lead the most laps in a race this season, capturing the WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race award in both events at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway.

Hamlin has led 24 times in eight races for a total of 337 laps, 726.608 miles, best among the Raybestos® Rookie class.

DID YOU KNOW? FOUR Raybestos® Rookies led a lap in the July 1 Pepsi 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (race No. 17), the most to lead a race this season:
---Martin Truex Jr., once for three laps
---David Stremme, twice for two laps
---Sorenson, once for one lap
---Yeley, once for one lap

Sorenson was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the 3M Performance 400 this past June at Michigan. Sorenson placed fifth in the rain-shortened event after leading the race once for three laps. He was the only Raybestos® Rookie to finish inside the top-10 and the only first-year driver to lead a lap in the event.

Travis Kvapil was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the 2005 GFS Marketplace 400. He was credited with a 38-place finish.

DID YOU KNOW? The best finish by a Raybestos® Rookie in the August race at Michigan (since 1975) is a third place effort by Tony Stewart in 1999.

DID YOU KNOW? Only one Raybestos® Rookie has won the pole position for the August race at Michigan since 1975: Davey Allison, who captured the top starting spot for the 1987 race.

The most Raybestos® Rookies to lead an August race at Michigan (since 1975) is FOUR in 2004.

DID YOU KNOW? A Raybestos® Rookie has led at least one lap in each of the past SEVEN CONSECUTIVE August races at Michigan:
1999: Tony Stewart (led twice for 4 laps)
2000: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (led once for 13 laps)
2001: Ron Hornaday (led once for three laps)
2002: Ryan Newman (led once for one lap)
2003: Greg Biffle (led once for 19 laps)
2004: Kasey Kahne (twice for six laps)
2004: Scott Riggs (twice for 12 laps)
2004: Scott Wimmer (once for three laps)
2004: Brendan Gaughan (once for two laps)
2005: Kyle Busch (once for 28 laps)

DID YOU KNOW? A Raybestos® Rookie has finished in the top-10 in six of the past seven August races at Michigan:
1999: Tony Stewart, third
2000: Matt Kenseth, eighth
2001: Casey Atwood, 10th
2002: Jimmie Johnson, seventh
2003: Greg Biffle, fourth
2004: Kasey Kahne, fifth

DID YOU KNOW? The most Raybestos® Rookies to finish in the top-10 in the same August race at Michigan is FOUR, which occurred in 1977:
---Sam Sommers, fourth
---Ricky Rudd, seventh
---Terry Ryan, ninth
---Janet Guthrie, 10th

Top-five finishes by Raybestos® Rookies in the August race at Michigan:
1977: Sam Sommers, fourth
1982: Geoffrey Bodine, fourth
1987: Davey Allison, fifth
1989: Hut Stricklin, fourth
1993: Jeff Gordon, third
1999: Tony Stewart, third
2003: Greg Biffle, fourth
2004: Kasey Kahne, fifth

Top-10 finishes by Raybestos® Rookies in the August race at Michigan:
1975: Bruce Hill, eighth
1977: Sam Sommers, fourth
1977: Ricky Rudd, seventh
1977: Terry Ryan, ninth
1977: Janet Guthrie, 10th
1979: Joe Millikan, sixth
1981: Mike Alexander, 10th
1982: Geoffrey Bodine, fourth
1987: Davey Allison, fifth
1989: Hut Stricklin, fourth
1993: Jeff Gordon, third
1993: Bobby Labonte, eighth
1995: Ricky Craven, seventh
1996: Johnny Benson, seventh
1999: Tony Stewart, third
2000: Matt Kenseth, eighth
2001: Casey Atwood, 10th
2002: Jimmie Johnson, seventh
2003: Greg Biffle, fourth
2004: Kasey Kahne, 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 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 11 years (1996-2006).

Newman holds the all-time Raybestos® Rookie record for most poles (6), most top-fives (14) and most top-10s (22).

Kasey Kahne holds the record for most earnings by a Raybestos® Rookie ($5.4 million in 2004).

The record for most wins by a Raybestos® Rookie is three, shared by Stewart (1999) and Johnson (2002).

Johnson also holds the best ever points finish by a Raybestos® Rookie, placing fifth in the championship standings in 2002.

More than one Raybestos® Rookie has posted victories in their rookie season only three times: Morgan Shepherd and Ron Bouchard (one each in 1981), Earnhardt Jr. (two) and Kenseth (2000), Johnson (three) and Newman (2002).

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER POINT STANDINGS
DRIVER POINTS
Denny Hamlin 233
Clint Bowyer 189
Reed Sorenson 173
Martin Truex Jr. 160
J.J. Yeley 156 
David Stremme 132
Brent Sherman 41 

HIGHEST-FINISHING RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE BY RACE
EVENT HIGHEST-FINISHING ROOKIE
Daytona 500 Bowyer, sixth
Auto Club 500 Yeley, eighth
UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Hamlin, 10th 
Golden Corral 500 Sorenson, 10th 
Food City 500 Hamlin, 14th 
DIRECTV 500 Sorenson, 12th 
Samsung/RadioShack 500 Hamlin, fourth
Subway Fresh 500 Bowyer, fifth
Aaron’s 499 Yeley, 11th 
Crown Royal 400 Hamlin, second
Dodge Charger 500 Hamlin, 10th 
Coca-Cola 600 Hamlin, ninth
Neighborhood Excellence 400 Hamlin, 11th 
Pocono 500 Hamlin, FIRST
3M Performance 400 Sorenson, fifth
Dodge/Save Mart 350 Hamlin, 12th 
Pepsi 400 Bowyer, 10th 
USG Sheetrock 400 Sorenson, seventh
Lenox Industrial Tools 300 Hamlin, sixth
Pennsylvania 500 Hamlin, FIRST
Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Bowyer, fourth
AMD at the Glen Hamlin, 10th