Catchfence

LapLeader- WIX Filters

· Kyle Busch led once for 68 laps to earn WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race honors in tonight’s Sharpie 500. Busch has led 13 times in 13 races for 892 total laps.

· Busch and Tony Stewart are now tied for the lead (6-6) in the overall WIX Filters Lap Leader standings.

· Busch won tonight’s race, edging Mark Martin by .098 seconds. The victory is his fourth victory and sixth top-five finish of the season. He won for the third time in 10 starts at Bristol and swept both races here this season.

· UNOFFICIALLY Busch is 13th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship standings, 34 points behind 12th-place Matt Kenseth and five ahead of 14th-place Brian Vickers.

WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER AWARD STANDINGS

Tony Stewart 6

Kyle Busch 6

Denny Hamlin 3

David Reutimann 3

Kasey Kahne 2

Jeff Burton 1

Ryan Newman 1

Martin Truex Jr. 1

Juan Pablo Montoya 1

· BUSCH QUOTES: “The whole M&M’s team did a phenomenal job this weekend. They really worked hard. We tried making the car better in practice and made a lot of changes to it and everything and again the guys made some smart calls there during the race. We worked on it all night. We never gave up on it. We never had the best car I didn’t feel like. We just kept plugging away at making some adjustments trying to make the car faster, trying to make it better in the short run, better in the long run where it was capable enough of keeping up with the 5 [Mark Martin] in general, man. I mean, that thing was just flawless tonight. That thing was so fast. We did what we needed to do. We got track position when it mattered most there on the last stop. Got by the 55 and the 39 when it mattered. I wish we could have set sail from there but we had some cautions there last and the red flag and everything. It really setup a tight battle between myself and Mark Martin, who was the best car all night. Man, what an honorable racecar driver Mark Martin is. Such an honor to race with him and to give him the room that he needed for him to give me the room that I needed was awesome. I can’t thank him enough. He didn’t let me win the race but he certainly didn’t take it from us. Tonight we had what mattered most when it mattered most and we were able to get the victory tonight.”

WHAT IS IT LIKE RACING AS THE VILLAIN ESPECIALLY AT A PLACE WHERE IT SEEMS EVERYONE WANTED MARK MARINT TO WIN THIS RACE? “Really, it’s no different if I was the hero or the villain. I just love to race. That’s solely what I’m built to do, be a racecar driver. I mean, I don’t think I could make it as a basketball player or soccer player because I’d certainly run out of breath in a hurry. But a racecar driver seemed to be what my DNA gave me talent to do. I love it here. I love being able to race for Joe Gibbs Racing for all the people that help support what we do and our program and it’s a blast, man. I love the fans. And this is what’s so cool about this sport is we come here tonight and we fill this place with 160,000 people. You go to an NFL game on Sundays and you might see 40,000 people at a big game. Even the Super Bowl I think it only sells close to a hundred. That’s still not here and we can do it every week.”

WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER AWARD WINNERS BY RACE

EVENT DRIVER
Daytona 500 Kyle Busch, 88 laps

Auto Club 500 Tony Stewart, three laps

Shelby 427 Jeff Burton, 61 laps

Kobalt Tools 500 Ryan Newman, three laps

Food City 500 Kyle Busch, 378 laps

Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 Denny Hamlin, 296 laps

Samsung 500 David Reutimann, 40 laps

Subway Fresh Fit 500 Tony Stewart, 19 laps

Aaron’s 499 Kyle Busch, 42 laps

Crown Royal 400 Denny Hamlin, 148 laps

Southern 500 Martin Truex Jr., 61 laps

Coca-Cola 600 Kyle Busch, 173 laps

Autism Speaks 400 David Reutimann, 25 laps

Pocono 500 Tony Stewart, 39 laps

LifeLock 400 Kyle Busch, nine laps

Toyota/Save Mart 350 Kasey Kahne, 37 laps

LENOX Industrial Tools 301 Tony Stewart, 40 laps

Coke Zero 400 Tony Stewart, 86 laps

LifeLock.com 400 Kasey Kahne, two laps

Allstate 400 at The Brickyard Juan Pablo Montoya, 116 laps

Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 Denny Hamlin, 91 laps

Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen Tony Stewart, 34 laps

CARFAX 400 David Reutimann, four laps

Sharpie 500 Kyle Busch, 68 laps

Since 1939, WIX® Filters, a member of the Affinia Group family of brands, has been an innovator in filtration products. WIX designs, manufactures and distributes products for automotive, diesel, agricultural, industrial and specialty filter markets. Its product line includes oil, air, cabin interior, fuel, coolant, transmission and hydraulic filters for automobiles, trucks and off-road equipment. WIX, a member of the Affinia family of brands, is the number one filter in NASCAR and an exclusive NASCAR Performance Product. Its NASCAR relationship also includes the WIX Filters Lap Leader Award, which recognizes the drivers leading the most laps in each race. For more information, visit www.wixfilters.com.

Affinia Group Inc. is an innovative global leader in the design, manufacture, distribution and marketing of industrial grade products and services, including extensive offerings of aftermarket parts for automotive and heavy-duty vehicles. With more than $2 billion in annual revenue, Affinia has operations in North and South America, Europe, Asia and India. For more information, visit www.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 WIX Filters, Press Release