Race 2 Win: NEXTEL Cup Series Race Notes

Nextel Cup Series

Samsung 500 - Raybestos Rookie Notes

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

David Ragan was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the April 1 Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Motor Speedway. Ragan finished 15th and took top rookie honors for the fourth time in six races.

Ragan claimed a $5,000 award at Martinsville as part of the Raybestos® Rookie Magnificent Seven program and won an authentic Ridgeway clock. Ragan also captured the bonus in the season opening Daytona 500. The Raybestos® Rookie of the Race normally pays $1,500 but that increases to $5,000 at seven designated races throughout the 2007 season. The next race where the bonus is available is Darlington (May 12).

Ragan took the lead in the Raybestos® Rookie standings by one point (68-67) over Juan Pablo Montoya entering the April 15 Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Montoya is 16th in the NEXTEL Cup Series championship standings, best of any Raybestos® Rookie. He is 62 points behind 10th-place Kevin Harvick and only four behind 15th-place Mark Martin. Montoya leads 17th-place Kurt Busch by one point and 18th-place J.J. Yeley by nine.

Denny Hamlin was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the 2006 Samsung 500, grabbing a fourth-place finish.

DID YOU KNOW? A Raybestos® Rookie has finished in the top-10 at Texas in seven of the past eight races:
1999: Tony Stewart, sixth, and Elliott Sadler, 10th
2000: Dale Earnhardt Jr., first
2001: Kurt Busch, fourth, and Kevin Harvick, seventh
2002: Jimmie Johnson, sixth
2003: Jamie McMurray
2004: Kasey Kahne, second
2006: Denny Hamlin, fourth, and Martin Truex Jr., eighth

TWO or more Raybestos® Rookies have finished in the top-10 three times in 10 spring races at Texas:
1999: Tony Stewart (sixth) and Elliott Sadler (10th)
2001: Kurt Busch (fourth) and Kevin Harvick (seventh)
2006: Denny Hamlin (fourth) and Martin Truex Jr. (eighth)

The most Raybestos® Rookies to lead the Samsung 500 at Texas is THREE in 2006:
Denny Hamlin: three times for 41 laps
Martin Truex Jr: once for two laps
J.J. Yeley: once for two laps.

Only once in 12 previous races at Texas has a Raybestos® Rookie won the race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. scored his first career NEXTEL Cup Series win by 5.920 seconds over Jeff Burton in 2000. Earnhardt Jr. led six times for 106 laps, more than any other driver.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne are the only Raybestos® Rookies to lead the most laps in a NEXTEL Cup race at Texas.

The best start by a Raybestos® Rookie at Texas second by J.J. Yeley in the 2006 spring race. Raybestos® Rookies that have led a lap in the 10 previous Samsung 500 races:
1997: Mike Skinner (once for 10 laps)
1999: Elliott Sadler (once for one lap)
2000: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (six times for 106 laps)
2001: Scott Pruett (once for 13 laps)
2002: Ryan Newman (once for two laps)
2004: Kasey Kahne (six times for 148 laps)
2004: Johnny Sauter (once for one lap)
2006: Denny Hamlin (three times for 41 laps)
2006: Martin Truex Jr. (once for two laps)
2006: J.J. Yeley (once for two laps)

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE HISTORY

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

Denny Hamlin is the only Raybestos® Rookie to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup since the program was created in 2004.

Hamlin holds the record for most earnings by a Raybestos® Rookie ($6.6 million in 2006).

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

A Raybestos® Rookie has posted multiple victories SEVEN times in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup:
1987: Davey Allison, two
1999: Tony Stewart, three
2000: Dale Earnhardt Jr., two
2001: Kevin Harvick, two
2002: Jimmie Johnson, three
2005: Kyle Busch, two
2006: Denny Hamlin, two

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

The way to the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup 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).

The longest streak for a Raybestos® Rookie to be in the top-10 in the NEXTEL Cup Series championship standings during the sport’s modern-era is 60 races (2001 MBNA Platinum 400 through 2002 Ford 400).

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER POINT STANDINGS
DRIVER POINTS
David Ragan 68
Juan Pablo Montoya 67
David Reutimann 36
Paul Menard 33 
AJ Allmendinger 21 
Brandon Whitt 3

HIGHEST-FINISHING RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE BY RACE
EVENT HIGHEST-FINISHING ROOKIE
Daytona 500 Ragan, fifth
Auto Club 500 Ragan, 16th 
UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Montoya, 22nd 
Kobalt Tools 500 Montoya, fifth
Food City 500 Ragan, 26th 
Goody’s Cool Orange 500 Ragan, 15th