Catchfence

Where the Raybestos Rookies will start at Las Vegas:

Logano 20th
Papis 26th
Speed 42nd

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER QUALIFYING QUOTES FOR THE SHELBY 427 NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES RACE AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2009, PAGE 4.

JOEY LOGANO IN THE No. 20 HOME DEPOT TOYOTA WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE QUALIFIER AT LAS VEGAS.

NOTES:

Logano will start 20th in the Shelby 427.

Max Papis (26th) qualified for his third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start today, his first on an oval.

LOGANO: “I feel okay with that. I think there’s more room to improve, which makes me feel a lot better. I felt that way after a practice run and was able to watch some tapes and see some things that I can do as a driver better. I feel like I was able to do a little bit of that and help us out a lot and you know work on our car a little bit more and we’ll be okay. I’m very excited right now. We had a good car in practice in race trim and had a decent qualifying run right there. Everything is going good right now.” “I was talking to Denny [Hamlin] and he’s like we’re good into three because the headwind is at us. I was like oh, I didn’t know that. It’s another of those rookie deals. But when the wind dies down I’m sure the cars are going to react different to different things. For now I guess everything is good.” “I’m so happy guys. It’s an awesome day. We made the show with the Geico 13 car first time on an oval and it just proved the perseverance pays off.” “The whole team, we work closer with MWR. I think it is a matter of heart. It is not a matter of cars. With a little bit more experience you can go a couple of tenths faster but come on, we’re in the show. That’s the first goal.” “Pedal to the metal and just see what I can do.”

HOW BIG OF A FACTOR WAS THE WIND DURING YOUR QUALIFYING RUN?

MAX PAPIS, No. 13 GEICO TOYOTA:

WHAT DID YOU DO TO IMPROVE SO MUCH FROM MIAMI LAST FALL TO TODAY?

WHAT IS YOUR STRATEGY FOR THE RACE?

MIKE HILLMAN, CREW CHIEF, No. 13 GEICO TOYOTA:

HOW BIG OF A POSITIVE IS THIS FOR GERMAIN RACING?

“Well it’s great, you know. We tried a couple races last year to get our feet wet in this thing. We’ve got a great sponsor in Geico. Taking all the testing away this winter really put us behind the eight-ball with Max being a Raybestos Rookie and stuff. We’ve got a lot of faith in his ability and in this race team. We have an alliance with Michael Waltrip Racing and that really helped, it paid off today. We’re looking forward to the rest of the year.” “Our engineering support from Toyota and from Michael Waltrip really has paid off, and me personally and my team learning how to use those tools. We’ve been over there in the truck garage and the Nationwide garage and coming back over here has been a new avenue to go down but it’s going to pay off now..” “No, I hired a couple new guys but they are some of the truck guys from the 30 and the 9 last year and we work together.” “I don’t think so. You know, I think the grip level has been there. I like the way they do it now with everybody having to go at the end that has to make it and it doesn’t give you as big of an advantage. We made it by more than a little bit so it’s cool.” “If we could finish the race and give him some good lap time and some good experience and give the pit crew some good time that’s all. We’ve got to walk before we can run so now we’re walking.” 

YOU STRUGGLED AT MIAMI LAST YEAR. HOW DID YOU IMPROVE WITH THE LIMITS ON TESTING?

IS THIS THE TRUCK TEAM THAT IS HERE PREPARING THE No. 13 CAR THIS WEEKEND?

PAPIS WAS THE LAST CAR OUT TODAY. WAS THAT AN ADVANTAGE?

WHAT WOULD BE A GOOD DAY FOR YOU IN THE RACE?

Raybestos® brand brake and chassis parts are produced by affiliated companies in Affinia’s Global Brake and Chassis Group, the leading manufacturer of braking systems and chassis parts in the transportation industry. The brake line includes everything from brake drums to rotors, pads, shoes and hydraulic parts, while the chassis line features tie rods, ball points, idler arms and sway bar links. Raybestos brand braking and chassis systems are also the only systems used by NASCAR’s Joe Gibbs Racing in competition. For more information about Raybestos brakes, visit Raybestos.com. For more information on Raybestos Chassis visit RaybestosChassis.com

Affinia Group Inc. is a global leader in the on and off-highway replacement products and service industry. In North America the Affinia family of brands includes WIX® Filters, Raybestos®, AIMCO® and BrakePro® brake products, and McQuay-Norris® and Raybestos™ Chassis parts. South American and European brands include Nakata®, Filtron®, Urba® and Quinton Hazell®. For more information, visit affiniagroup.com.

* Affinia Group Inc..’s affiliated companies include Brake Parts Inc. WIX Filtration Corp LLC, Affinia Products Corp LLC and other high quality manufacturers of the Affinia family of brands.

Camp & Associates, Inc., For Raybestos, Press Release