Catchfence

2009 Raybestos Rookie Contender

– NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

Tayler Malsam was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the May 15 North Carolina Education Lottery 200 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (Concord, N.C.). Malsam scored an eighth-place finish, his best effort in eight NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts and the best by a Raybestos® Rookie in seven races at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Malsam grabbed top rookie honors for the second time in 2009 and is the only first-year driver to claim the honor more than once. He leads James Buescher by five points (62-57) in the Raybestos® Rookie standings entering the May 29 AAA Insurance 200 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.

Raybestos® Rookie Scott Speed won the 2008 AAA Insurance 200 at Dover, crossing the finish line 3.379 seconds ahead of second-place Jack Sprague. Speed led the race once covering the final 51 laps.

DID YOU KNOW? TWO Raybestos® Rookies have won NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races at Dover (nine previous races).

Top-five finishes by Raybestos® Rookies at Dover:

2000: Kurt Busch, FIRST

2001: Ricky Hendrick, third

2008: Scott Speed, FIRST

Top-10 finishes by Raybestos® Rookies at Dover:

2000: Kurt Busch, FIRST

2000: Jamie McMurray, sixth

2000: Carlos Contreras, 10th

2001: Ricky Hendrick, third

2001: Matt Crafton, ninth

2001: Travis Kvapil, 10th

2002: Brendan Gaughan, seventh

2005: Timothy Peters, sixth

2007: Aaron Fike, 10th

2008: Scott Speed, FIRST

2008: Colin Braun, eighth

DID YOU KNOW? Kurt Busch (2000) is the only Raybestos® Rookie to win a pole position in nine races at Dover.

Raybestos® Rookies that have led at least one lap at Dover:

2000: Kurt Busch, twice for nine laps

2001: Ricky Hendrick, once for one lap

2001: Matt Crafton, once for three laps

2008: Scott Speed, once for 51 laps

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER POINT STANDINGS

DRIVER POINTS

Tayler Malsam 62

James Buescher 57

Johnny Sauter 54

Ricky Carmichael 45

JR Fitzpatrick 42

Brent Raymer 24

Chris Jones 19

Chase Austin 16

Brian Ickler 8

HIGHEST-FINISHING RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE BY RACE

EVENT HIGHEST-FINISHING ROOKIE

NextEra Energy Resources 250 J.R. Fitzpatrick, fourth

San Bernardino County 200 Ricky Carmichael, eighth

American Commercial Lines 200 Tayler Malsam, 13th

Kroger 250 James Buescher, 11th

O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 Johnny Sauter, ninth

North Carolina Education Lottery 200 Tayler Malsam, eighth

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE HISTORY

· Colin Braun was the 2008 Raybestos® Rookie of the Year in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Braun became the SIXTH Roush Fenway Racing driver to win Raybestos® Rookie of the Year in the series. In 25 starts Braun scored three top-five and eight top-10 finishes and placed 13th in the series championship standings. His best finish was a third-place effort at Kansas Speedway in April. Braun’s official margin of victory over Brian Scott in the final Raybestos® Rookie standings was 19 points (234-215).

DID YOU KNOW? The most recent Raybestos® Rookie to win a race in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is Scott Speed. Speed won the 2008 AAA Insurance 200 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, crossing the finish line 3.379 seconds ahead of second-place Jack Sprague (23 races).

DID YOU KNOW? The most recent Raybestos® Rookie to win a pole position in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is Scott Speed. Speed won the pole for the 2008 O’Reilly 200 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (15 races).

DID YOU KNOW? The most recent Raybestos® Rookie to win a race in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series is Scott Speed. Speed won the 2008 AAA Insurance 200 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway, crossing the finish line 3.379 seconds ahead of second-place Jack Sprague (23 races).

The most Raybestos® Rookies to win a race in a single season: THREE in 1997 (Kenny Irwin, Tony Raines, and Randy Tolsma).

The most poles by a Raybestos® Rookie: FOUR (Greg Biffle in 1998 and Kurt Busch in 2000).

Kurt Busch holds the record for best championship finish (2nd), most wins (four), and most money earned ($745,632).

The record for most top-fives by a Raybestos® Rookie is 13 (Kurt Busch in 2000 and Carl Edwards in 2003).

The record for most top-10 finishes by a Raybestos® Rookie is 19, by Ricky Hendrick in 2001.

SIX drivers from Roush Fenway Racing have won Raybestos® Rookie of the Year while competing in the Camping World Truck Series:

2008: Colin Braun

2006: Erik Darnell

2005: Todd Kluever

2003: Carl Edwards

2000: Kurt Busch

1998: Greg Biffle

Kenny Irwin was the first Raybestos® Rookie to win a race in the Camping World Truck Series. Irwin captured the Florida Dodge Dealers 400K at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 16, 1997. He took the checkered flag by .289 seconds over Mike Bliss.

Irwin also holds the record for quickest win by a Raybestos® Rookie in the Craftsman Truck Series, scoring his first career win at Homestead in just his third career start.

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. Press Release