Race 2 Win: Dickies 500 - Raybestos® Rookie Notes

Nextel Cup Series

Dickies 500 - 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 Oct. 29 Bass Pro Shops 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Hamlin finished eighth, scoring his 17th top-10 finish. He took Raybestos® Rookie of the Race honors for the 16th time this season.

Hamlin is third in the NEXTEL Cup Series championship standings, 65 points behind leader Matt Kenseth. He is 39 behind second-place Jimmie Johnson and leads fourth-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. by 19 points.

THE STREAK STAYS ALIVE: A Raybestos® Rookie has finished in the top 15 in all 33 races this season.

Hamlin leads Clint Bowyer by 58 points (282-224) in the Raybestos® Rookie standings entering the November 5 Dickies 500 at Texas Motor 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.

DID YOU KNOW? The most recent Raybestos® Rookie to lead the NEXTEL Cup Series championship standings is Jimmie Johnson in 2002. He led after the Kansas event (race No. 28).

DID YOU KNOW? Tony Stewart owns the best points finish by a Raybestos® Rookie in the sport’s modern era (post 1971), placing fourth in the championship standings in 1999. James Hylton holds the best points finish by a Raybestos® Rookie in the sport’s history, a second-place effort in 1966.

DID YOU KNOW? The most recent race where multiple Raybestos® Rookies finished in the top five occurred at Chicagoland Speedway on July 14, 2002. Jimmie Johnson finished fourth, just ahead of fifth-place Ryan Newman.

Hamlin was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in April’s Samsung RadioShack 500 at Texas, scoring a fourth-place finish. He led the race three times for 41 laps.

Travis Kvapil was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the 2005 Dickies 500 at Texas, logging a 24th-place finish.

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 Matt 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 Tony Stewart (1999) and Jimmie Johnson (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), Jimmie Johnson (three) and Newman (2002).

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER POINT STANDINGS
DRIVER POINTS
Denny Hamlin 282
Clint Bowyer 224
Reed Sorenson 195
Martin Truex Jr. 193
J.J. Yeley 184 
David Stremme 158

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 
GFS Marketplace 400 Sorenson, eighth
Sharpie 500 Hamlin, sixth
Sony HD 500 Bowyer, third
Chevy Rock & Roll 400 Bowyer, 12th 
Sylvania 300 Hamlin, fourth
Dover 400 Truex Jr., sixth
Banquet 400 Bowyer, ninth
UAW-Ford 500 Truex Jr., fifth
Bank of America 500 Stremme, 15th 
Subway 500 Hamlin, second
Bass Pro Shops 500 Hamlin, eighth