Race 2 Win: NEXTEL Cup Series Race Notes

Nextel Cup Series

Aaron's 499 - Raybestos Rookie Notes

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

Paul Menard was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the April 21 Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway. Menard scored a 25th-place finish and took top rookie honors for the first time in 2007.

Juan Pablo Montoya leads David Ragan by five points (90-85) in the Raybestos® Rookie standings entering the April 29 Aaron’s 499 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

Montoya is 16th in the NEXTEL Cup Series championship standings, best of any Raybestos® Rookie. He is 12 points behind 15th-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. and 19 behind 14th-place Greg Biffle. Montoya leads 17th-place Elliott Sadler by 14 points and 18th-place David Stremme by 18.

STAT OF THE WEEK: The late Davey Allison is the only Raybestos® Rookie to win the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega. He won the 1987 event by .78 seconds over Terry Labonte. Allison also led the most laps in the race, holding the top spot six times for 108 of the 178 laps (the event was shortened by 10 laps due to darkness). Allison remains the only Raybestos® Rookie to lead the most laps in the Aaron’s 499 and holds the record for most laps led by a rookie in the spring race at Talladega.

Since Allison’s win in 1987, a Raybestos® Rookie has finished in the top-five in the Aaron’s 499 just twice: Tony Stewart (fifth in 1999) and Kurt Busch (third in 2001).

DID YOU KNOW? Only one Raybestos® Rookie has won the pole position in 37 previous Aaron’s 499 races at Talladega: Jimmie Johnson (2002). Johnson won the second pole of his career and posted a seventh place finish.

DID YOU KNOW? At least one Raybestos® Rookie finished in the top-10 in four consecutive Aaron’s 499 races at Talladega from 1979 through 1982: Joe Millikan (fifth) and Terry Labonte (ninth) in 1979, Lake Speed (seventh) and Jody Ridley (tenth) in 1980, Tim Richmond (sixth) in 1981, and Mark Martin (tenth) in 1982.

Top-five finishes by a Raybestos® Rookie in the Aaron’s 499 (since 1975):
1979: Joe Millikan, fifth
1987: Davey Allison, first
1999: Tony Stewart, fifth
2001: Kurt Busch, third

Top-10 finishes by a Raybestos® Rookie in the Aaron’s 499 (since 1975):
1977: Sam Sommers, 10th
1979: Joe Millikan, fifth
1979: Terry Labonte, ninth
1980: Lake Speed, seventh
1980: Jody Ridley, 10th
1981: Tim Richmond, sixth
1982: Mark Martin, 10th
1984: Phil Parsons, seventh
1987: Davey Allison, first
1994: Steve Grissom, 10th
1996: Johnny Benson, 10th
1999: Tony Stewart, fifth
2001: Kurt Busch, third
2002: Jimmie Johnson, seventh

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
Juan Pablo Montoya 90
David Ragan 85
Paul Menard 54 
David Reutimann 47
AJ Allmendinger 23 
Brandon Whitt 2

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 
Samsung 500 Montoya, eighth 
Subway Fresh Fit 500 Menard, 25th