Catchfence

2009 Raybestos Rookie Contender

– NASCAR CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

Johnny Sauter was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the May 30 AAA Insurance 200 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. Sauter scored a fifth-place finish, his second top-five in 18 starts and his best of the 2009 season. He claimed top Raybestos® Rookie honors for second time this season and posted his second top-10 in the last three races. Sauter became just the fourth Raybestos® Rookie to score a top-five finish in 10 previous Camping World Truck Series races at Dover.

Sauter and Tayler Malsam are tied for the lead (71-71) in the Raybestos® Rookie standings entering the June 5 Winstar World Casino 400 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Kenny Irwin won the inaugural Winstar World Casino 400 at Texas Motor Speedway in 1997, edging out Boris Said and Rick Crawford for the win. Irwin went on to capture Raybestos® Rookie of the Year that same season.

A Raybestos® Rookie has won four of the 22 previous Camping World Truck Series races at Texas: Irwin, Travis Kvapil (2001) and Brendan Gaughan, who swept both races in 2002. Raybestos® Rookies Kvapil and Gaughan gave the rookie class three consecutive wins in 2001-2002.

DID YOU KNOW? Justin Marks became the first Raybestos® Rookie to win a pole position at Texas when he captured the top starting spot for the 2008 Winstar World Casino 400.

Marc Mitchell was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the 2008 June race, scoring a 12th-place finish.

Top-five finishes by Raybestos® Rookies in the June race at Texas:

1997: Kenny Irwin, FIRST

2001: Ricky Hendrick, fifth

2002: Brendan Gaughan, FIRST

2003: Carl Edwards, second

2004: David Reutimann, third

Top-10 finishes by Raybestos® Rookies in the June race at Texas:

1997: Kenny Irwin, FIRST

2000: Kurt Busch, sixth

2000: Scott Riggs, 10th

2001: Ricky Hendrick, fifth

2001: Nathan Haseleu, 10th

2002: Brendan Gaughan, FIRST

2003: Carl Edwards, second

2004: David Reutimann, third

2006: Chad McCumbee, ninth

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER POINT STANDINGS

DRIVER POINTS

Tayler Malsam 71

Johnny Sauter 71

James Buescher 65

J R Fitzpatrick 52

Ricky Carmichael 45

Brent Raymer 30

Chris Jones 19

Chase Austin 16

Brian Ickler 15

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

AAA Insurance 200 Johnny Sauter, fifth

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 (24 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 (16 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