Race 2 Win: Lenox Industrial Tools 300 - Raybestos® Rookie Notes

Nextel Cup Series

Lenox Industrial Tools 300 - Raybestos® Rookie Notes

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

Reed Sorenson was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the July 9 USG Sheetrock 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. Sorenson scored a seventh-place finish, his fourth top-10 in 20 career NEXTEL Cup Series starts and his second in the last four races. He led the race once for six laps, the third event he has led in 2006. Sorenson claimed top Raybestos® Rookie honors for the fourth time this season.

A FIRST FOR 2006: Three Raybestos® Rookies finished in the top-10 at Chicagoland, the most freshman drivers to finish in the top-10 in a race this season: Sorenson, Clint Bowyer (9th) and J.J. Yeley (10th).

Denny Hamlin leads the Raybestos® Rookie standings by 24 points (202-178) over Bowyer entering the July 16 LENOX Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Bowyer scored his second consecutive top-10 finish and fifth of the 2006 season at Chicagoland. He also moved up two spots in the NEXTEL Cup Series championship standings to 16th entering the New England 300. Bowyer trails 15th-place Casey Mears by 54 points.

Yeley scored his second top-10 of the season and first since the race at California (race number two).

THE STREAK STAYS ALIVE: A Raybestos® Rookie has finished in the top-15 in all 18 races this season.

Hamlin is 12th in the NEXTEL Cup Series championship standings, best of any Raybestos® Rookie. He is three points behind 11th-place Greg Biffle and 50 behind 10th-place Jeff Gordon. Hamlin holds an 82-point lead over 13th-place Kurt Busch.

DID YOU KNOW? Hamlin has led 18 times in six races for 185 laps, 348.050 miles, best of any Raybestos® Rookie. He is the only first-year driver to lead the most laps in a race this season, holding the top spot six times for 83 laps in the June 11 Pocono 500 at Long Pond, Pa. (race number 14).

Kyle Busch was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the 2005 LENOX Industrial Tools 300, scoring a fourth-place finish. Busch joined Ryan Newman (fifth in 2002) as the only Raybestos® Rookies to finish in the top-five in the July race at New Hampshire International Speedway.

DID YOU KNOW? A Raybestos® Rookie has posted a top-10 finish in each of the last FIVE consecutive July races at New Hampshire:
2001: Kevin Harvick, eighth
2002: Ryan Newman, fifth
2003: Greg Biffle, 10th
2004: Kahne, eighth
2005: Busch, fourth

DID YOU KNOW? Tony Stewart is the only Raybestos® Rookie to lead the most laps in the July race at New Hampshire. Stewart led twice for 118 laps in the 1999 New England 300.

Jamie McMurray is the most recent Raybestos® Rookie to lead a lap in the July event at New Hampshire, hold the top spot once for 13 laps in 2003.

The best start by a Raybestos® Rookie at New Hampshire is third by Jeff Gordon in 1993.

Two or more Raybestos® Rookies have finished in the top-10 just once 12 NEXTEL Cup races at New Hampshire. In 1993, Gordon finished seventh while Bobby Labonte placed 10th.

Top-10 finishes by Raybestos® Rookies at New Hampshire (July race):
1993: Jeff Gordon, seventh
1993: Bobby Labonte, 10th
1996: Johnny Benson, ninth
1999: Tony Stewart, 10th
2001: Kevin Harvick, eighth
2002: Ryan Newman, fifth
2003: Greg Biffle, 10th
2004: Kahne, eighth
2005: Busch, fourth

Raybestos® Rookies who have led a lap at New Hampshire (July race):
1993: Jeff Gordon (twice for three laps)
1996: Johnny Benson (once for 17 laps)
1999: Tony Stewart (twice for 118 laps)
2001: Kevin Harvick (once for 13 laps)
2002: Ryan Newman (once for one lap)
2003: Jamie McMurray (once for 13 laps)

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).

Ryan 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 Jimmie Johnson (2002).

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

A Raybestos® Rookie has posted multiple victories SIX times in NASCAR Winston Cup history: Davey Allison (two wins in 1987), Stewart (three wins in 1999), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (two wins in 2000), Kevin Harvick (two wins in 2001), Johnson (three wins in 2002), and Kyle Busch (two wins in 2005).

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 202
Clint Bowyer 178
Reed Sorenson 166
Martin Truex Jr. 153
J.J. Yeley 149 
David Stremme 121
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