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

· Joey Logano was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the March 29 Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Logano scored a 32nd-place finish and took top rookie honors for the fourth time in six races this season.

· Logano leads Scott Speed by two points (64-62) in the Raybestos® Rookie standings entering the April 5 Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

* Patrick Carpentier was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the 2008 Samsung 500, claiming a 28th-place finish.

* DID YOU KNOW? Only once in 16 previous NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Texas has a Raybestos® Rookie won the race. Dale Earnhardt Jr. scored his first career Sprint Cup Series win by 5.920 seconds over Jeff Burton in 2000. Earnhardt Jr. also led the most laps in the event (six times for 106 laps).

* DID YOU KNOW? Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne are the only Raybestos® Rookies to lead the most laps in 16 previous Sprint Cup Series races at Texas. Kahne led six times for 148 laps in 2004 Samsung 500 (spring race).

* Top-five finishes by Raybestos® Rookies in the Samsung 500:

2000: Dale Earnhardt Jr., FIRST
2001: Kurt Busch, fourth
2004: Kasey Kahne, second
2006: Denny Hamlin, fourth

* DID YOU KNOW? A Raybestos® Rookie has finished in the top-10 in eight of the past 10 Samsung 500 races.

* Top-10 finishes by Raybestos® Rookies in the Samsung 500:

1999: Tony Stewart, sixth
1999: Elliott Sadler, 10th
2000: Dale Earnhardt Jr., FIRST
2001: Kurt Busch, fourth
2001: Kevin Harvick, seventh
2002: Jimmie Johnson, sixth
2003: Jamie McMurray, 10th
2004: Kasey Kahne, second
2006: Denny Hamlin, fourth
2006: Martin Truex Jr., eighth
2007: Juan Pablo Montoya, eighth

* TWO or more Raybestos® Rookies have finished in the top-10 THREE times in 12 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 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.

* The best start by a Raybestos® Rookie in the spring race at Texas is third by Kasey Kahne in 2004.

* Raybestos® Rookies that have led a lap in the 12 previous Samsung 500 (spring) races at Texas:

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 CONTENDER POINT STANDINGS

DRIVER POINTS

Joey Logano 64
Scott Speed 62
Max Papis 9

HIGHEST-FINISHING RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE BY RACE

EVENT                                                  HIGHEST-FINISHING ROOKIE

Daytona 500                                      Scott Speed, 35th
Auto Club 500                                  Joey Logano, 26th
Shelby 427                                         Joey Logano, 13th
Kobalt Tools 500                             Joey Logano, 30th
Food City 500                                   Scott Speed, 28th
Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500     Joey Logano, 32nd

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE HISTORY

· Regan Smith won 2008 Raybestos® Rookie of the Year honors in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, edging Sam Hornish Jr. by seven points (236-229). Smith became the first Raybestos® Rookie of the Year in the 52-year history of the program without a DNF (did not finish). He was running at the finish in all 34 starts he made this season.

· DID YOU KNOW? The most recent Raybestos® Rookie to win a Sprint Cup Series race is Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya captured the 2007 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon (Sonoma, Calif.) Raceway, crossing the finish line 4.097 seconds ahead of second-place Kevin Harvick (61 races).

· DID YOU KNOW? The most recent Raybestos® Rookie to win a pole position in the Sprint Cup Series is Patrick Carpentier. Carpentier captured the top starting spot for the 2008 LENOX Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (26 races).

* DID YOU KNOW? The most recent Raybestos® Rookie to score a top-five finish is David Ragan. Ragan scored a third-place finish in the 2007 Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway (52 races).

* DID YOU KNOW? The most recent Raybestos® Rookie to score a top-10 finish is David Ragan. Ragan scored a 10th-place finish in the 2007 Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway (42 races).

· The 2008 season marked the first time in NASCAR’s modern-era (since 1972) that THREE drivers shared the lead in the Raybestos® Rookie standings. After the second race of the season, Sam Hornish, Jr., Dario Franchitti and Regan Smith were all tied at the top of the standings.

* 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 Sprint 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 Sprint 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 Sprint 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 Sprint Cup title: Dale Earnhardt (1979), Rusty Wallace (1984), Alan Kulwicki (1986), Jeff Gordon (1993), Tony Stewart (1999, 2005) and Matt Kenseth (2000).

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

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