Catchfence

Raybestos Rookie Contender Logo

Logano 21st

Papis 32nd

Speed 33rd

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER QUOTES FOR THE CHECKER O’REILLY AUTO PARTS 500 NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES RACE AT PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2009, PAGE 1.

JOEY LOGANO IN THE No. 20 THE HOME DEPOT TOYOTA WAS THE TOP RAYBESTOS ROOKIE AT PHOENIX.

NOTES:

Logano posted a 21st-place finish and took Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the 25th time this season.

All three Raybestos Rookies that started today’s race were running at the finish.

LOGANO: “We fought some thing that we should have worked on in practice. The tough part is that it wasn’t horrible. We got decent at the end but we still weren’t where we need to be. We just fought on trying to get this thing to turn all day: tight in the center, tight in the center, tight in the center.”

WHAT DID YOU SEE REGARDING THE PILEUP ON THE FRONTSTRETCH? “I think everyone just checked-up. Someone was spinning out and I was checking-up and I think I got run over from behind and spun me around with ‘em all. Not much you can do about that one but that didn’t really affect us that much. It drove about the same.”

IS THIS ANOTHER RACE WHERE YOU’RE TRYING TO LEARN AND BUILD THE NOTEBOOK? “We’re going to keep fighting and keep digging to get these things better and better. This race was a lot different than the first race. The track was quite a bit different, too, because the sun was out. That’s a little different for me.”

IS THIS ONE OF THE MOST CHALLENGING THINGS ABOUT YOUR RAYBESTOS ROOKIE SEASON, TRYING TO KEEP UP WITH THE TRACK AND MAKE CHANGES TO THE CAR? “Yeah, that’s a little bit of it, trying to keep up with the racetrack, trying to dial your car in and trying to make it better and to keep up with the racetrack. There were a lot of things.”

SCOTT SPEED, No. 82 RED BULL TOYOTA: WHAT DID YOU SEE IN THE BIG ACCIDENT ON THE FRONTSTRETCH? “Smoke, that’s about all I saw, mate [smiles]. Honestly, I have no idea. I was on the brakes and the next thing I know we’re looking the other way. Obviously I got hit from behind is the biggest thing. That’s what ruined our car but I mean it’s not their fault. We had a great car in the middle of the race. We started off way too tight but we fixed it and then we started going pretty good so from that perspective I’m happy because we made progress. We were competitive, we had good lap times so maybe next time we can stopped getting wrecked.”

ROBERT BARKER, CREW CHIEF, No. 13 GEICO TOYOTA: TODAY WAS ANOTHER LEARNING EXPERIENCE MAX PAPIS. “Absolutely, some pluses and minuses, things definitely need to work on but also things that were positive. We had speedy times and it was good.”

Go REAL Big - NFL teams and players at Fathead

IS A HOT, SLICK TRACK LIKE TODAY THE MOST CHALLENGING THING FOR A YOUNG DRIVER TO LEARN TO RACE ON? “Grippier racetracks are a lot easier. When they repave ‘em and all that grip and all that stuff, that’s just who has the most guts. When you get it slick like this a lot of talent comes into play.”

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP A DRIVER SHORTEN THE LEARNING CURVE? “He’s done great. He’s helped himself a lot in learning. Just understand what’s going to happen and hopefully have the car close and when he figures it out he’s there. But the guys did well.”

THIS WAS A GOOD WEEKEND. YOU QUALIFIED WELL AND YOU FINISHED. “Absolutely, absolutely, a lot for the guys to be proud of and keep working but we’re greedy. We want to run well [smiles]. We want to move up.”

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