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HAMLIN GIVES RAYBESTOS® BRAND BRAKES NINTH NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES WIN OF ’09 AT HOMESTEAD

Raybestos - The Best in Brakes

Hamlin gave Raybestos® brand Brakes, a member of the Affinia Group family of brands, their ninth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win in 2009. Cars using Raybestos® brand Brakes won four of the six short track races this season including a sweep of races at both Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. Other victories this season were Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Pocono (Pa.) Raceway and Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

Hamlin flashed by his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate on lap 223 and steadily pulled away from the field, crossing the finish line 2.632 seconds ahead of second-place Jeff Burton. Hamlin made what was the race winning pass off Turn 2 and never looked back.

“It’s been a great year,” Hamlin said. “To get four wins and to win on a track that people don’t necessarily expect us to win on is a great deal. Starting this car in back [38th-place] and coming to the front was a show. We hope to be where Jimmie [Johnson] is at in a couple of years and we’re showing that we do have a little bit of strength.”

Hamlin heaped praise on crew chief Mike Ford for making his No. 11 Fed-Ex Express Toyota better during the race.

“Yeah, that’s the thing is we kept working on it,” Hamlin said. “Me and Mike went back and forth with adjustments all day and just kept getting it a little bit better. Then we’d go take a step back and he’d make it two steps better the next run. That shows what communication that we have between us and how strong our relationship is. I don’t see us getting any weaker anytime soon.”

JD Gibbs, owner of the No. 11 and President of Joe Gibbs Racing, was impressed by the team’s performance.

“What’s encouraging for our future and just watching Denny and Mike’s leadership at JGR and the way they work together and don’t get panicky,” Gibbs said. “We didn’t have the best car and the way that they make changes in the race and over the season, you’ll really see impressive things. I’m really looking forward to next year. The pit crew was really impressive. We are real excited to watch Joey [Logano] following in the footsteps of Tony [Stewart] and Kyle [Busch] and Denny by winning Raybestos Rookie of the Year.”

The victory was the eighth for Hamlin in 151 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. He won for the fourth time in 2009 and for the first time four races at Homestead. He gained three positions in the standings with his Homestead victory, finishing fifth overall in the standings.

Hamlin averaged 126.986 mph in a race that took 3 hours, six minutes and 18 seconds to complete. There were 18 lead changes among 10 drivers and the event was slowed by seven cautions for 31 laps.

To gain a competitive advantage at Homestead, the Joe Gibbs cars used the Raybestos® Sprint Cup braking system. The ultra-lightweight aluminum alloy six-piston calipers are the stiffest and lightest calipers available in all of NASCAR. The innovative calipers were developed using Raybestos® technology partner Alcon’s state of the art “optimized design” process, and include an asymmetric body design and advanced between-piston and crossover cooling features. The brake package also provides for the largest brake pad volume (surface area) and largest rotor (13.15” outside diameter, and 1.65” thick) available in NASCAR.

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 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.

Alcon Components USA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Alcon Components Limited, the UK based manufacturer of premium brake and clutch products. Alcon systems are engineered and designed for the most rigorous demands and are widely used throughout the world of motorsport, from Formula One to IndyCar to NASCAR, as well as in various high performance road vehicles including Jaguar, Land Rover and Bentley. For more information, visit www.alconusa.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