Catchfence

NEWS AND NOTES FROM THE RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDERS – NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES

• Max Papis was the Raybestos® Rookie of the Race in the 2009 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon (Sonoma, Calif.) Raceway, scoring a 12^th-place finish.

• Juan Pablo Montoya won the 2007 Toyota/Save Mart 350 as a Raybestos® Rookie at Infineon Raceway.  Montoya scored the first victory of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in the race, crossing the finish line 4.097 seconds ahead of second-place Kevin Harvick.  He is the only Raybestos® Rookie winner in 21 previous Sprint Cup races at Infineon Raceway and the only freshman driver to score a top-five finish.

• Top-10 finishes by Raybestos® Rookies at Infineon Raceway (21 races):

1998:   Kenny Irwin, ninth

2002:   Ryan Newman, ninth

2006:   Juan Pablo Montoya, FIRST

• DID YOU KNOW? Only two Raybestos® Rookies have led a lap in 21 previous races at Infineon Raceway: Scott Pruett (twice for 10 laps in 2000) and Juan Pablo Montoya (once for seven laps in 2007).

• DID YOU KNOW? The best start by a Raybestos® Rookie at Infineon Raceway is second, shared by Jerry Nadeau (1998) and Tony Stewart (1999).

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE CONTENDER POINT STANDINGS

DRIVER          POINTS

Kevin Conway    154
Terry Cook       38

HIGHEST-FINISHING RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE BY RACE

EVENT                             HIGHEST-FINISHING ROOKIE

Auto Club 500                     Kevin Conway, 31st
Shelby American                   Kevin Conway,  36th
Kobalt Tools 500                  Kevin Conway,  31st
Food City 500                     Kevin  Conway, 28th
Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500      Kevin Conway, 31st
Subway Fresh Fit 600              Kevin  Conway, 33rd
Samsung Mobile 500                Kevin Conway,  27th
Aaron’s 499                       Kevin  Conway, 30th
Crown Royal 300                   Kevin Conway,  37th
SHOWTIME Southern 500             Kevin Conway, 33rd
Autism Speaks 400                 Kevin Conway,  33rd
Coca-Cola 600                     Kevin  Conway, 35th
Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500      Kevin Conway, 35th
Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400  Kevin Conway, 40th

RAYBESTOS® ROOKIE HISTORY

• Joey Logano won 2009 Raybestos® Rookie of the Year in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.  Logano captured top rookie honors 26 times in 36 races and officially claimed the honor by 33 points (270-237) over Scott Speed.  At 19 years of age, Logano became the youngest driver to win Raybestos® Rookie of the Year in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

• Logano scored his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory in at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (race No. 17).  The victory came in his 20^th career start.  He finished the season with one win, three top-five and seven top-10 finishes and placed 20^th in the final series championship standings.

• Logano is the THIRD driver from Joe Gibbs Racing to win Raybestos® Rookie of the Year, joining Tony Stewart (1999) and Denny Hamlin (2006).

• DID YOU KNOW? Logano is the most recent Raybestos® Rookie to win a Sprint Cup Series race, capturing the 2009 LENOX Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway ahead of second-place Jeff Gordon (34 races).

• DID YOU KNOW? The most recent Raybestos® Rookie to win a pole position in the Sprint Cup Series is Patrick Carpentier.  Carpentier captured the top starting spot for the 2008 LENOX Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (70 races).

• DID YOU KNOW? The most recent Raybestos® Rookie to score a top-five finish is Logano, who placed third in the 2009 AMP Energy 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (20 races).

• Regan Smith (2008) is the only Raybestos® Rookie of the Year in the 54-year history of the program without a DNF (did not finish).  He was running at the finish in all 34 starts he made and captured top rookie honors over Sam Hornish Jr. by just seven points (236-229).

• The 2008 season marked the first time in NASCAR’s modern-era (since 1972) that THREE drivers shared the lead in the Raybestos® Rookie standings.  After the second race of the season, Sam Hornish, Jr., Dario Franchitti and Regan Smith were all tied at the top of the standings.

• Ryan Newman holds the all-time Raybestos® Rookie record for most poles (6), most top-fives (14) and most top-10s (22).

• Denny Hamlin is the only Raybestos® Rookie to qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup since the program was created in 2004.

• The record for most earnings by a Raybestos® Rookie Hamlin holds the record for most earnings by a Raybestos® Rookie ($6.6 million in 2006).

• The record for most wins by a Raybestos® Rookie is THREE, shared by Tony Stewart (1999) and Jimmie Johnson (2002).

• A Raybestos® Rookie has posted multiple victories SEVEN times in NASCAR Sprint Cup:

1987:   Davey Allison, two

1999:   Tony Stewart, three

2000:   Dale Earnhardt Jr., two

2001:   Kevin Harvick, two

2002:   Jimmie Johnson, three

2005:   Kyle Busch, two

2006:   Denny Hamlin, two

• More than one Raybestos® Rookie has posted victories during their first season only three times:

1981:   Morgan Shepherd (one) and Ron Bouchard (one)

2000:   Dale Earnhardt Jr. (two) and Matt Kenseth (one)

2002:   Jimmie Johnson (three) and Ryan Newman (one)

• The way to the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship is to win Raybestos® Rookie of the Year.  Since 1979, six Raybestos® Rookie of the Year drivers have gone on to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup title: Dale Earnhardt (1979), Rusty Wallace (1984), Alan Kulwicki (1986), Jeff Gordon (1993), Tony Stewart (1999, 2005) and Matt Kenseth (2000).

• The longest streak for a Raybestos® Rookie to be in the top-10 in the Sprint Cup Series championship standings during the sport’s modern-era is 60 races (2001 MBNA Platinum 400 through 2002 Ford 400).

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 $1.8 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 Raybestos, Press Release