Catchfence

Austin Dillon (Photo Credit: Jason Smith / Getty Images for NASCAR)

Raybestos Rookie Austin Dillon enters Saturday’s Kroger 200 here at Martinsville as the most recent race winner in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.  Dillon won the   September 25 Smith’s Food and Drug Stores 350 at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway, crossing the finish line 5.588 seconds ahead of second-place Johnny Sauter.

NOTES:

• Dillon won for the second time in 22 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races and became the first Raybestos Rookie to win multiple races since Carl Edwards won three times in 2003.  He claimed top rookie honors for the 14^th time this season.

• Dillon also won the pole at Las Vegas at Las Vegas, his FIFTH of the season, the most ever by a Raybestos Rookie in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series history.  He is also the only Raybestos® Rookie to win THREE CONSECUTIVE pole positions, capturing the top starting position for the 2010 WinStar World Casino 400 at Texas Motor Speedway (race No. 8), VFW 200 at Michigan International Speedway (race No. 9) and Lucas Oil 200 (race No. 10).

• Dillon leads Justin Lofton by 54 points (236-182) in the overall Raybestos® Rookie standings.  He is fourth in the series championship standings, 88 points behind third-place Johnny Sauter and 35 ahead of fifth-place Timothy Peters.

AUSTIN DILLON, No. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER BOATS/REMINGTON CHEVROLET: “Our trucks have been awesome this year.  My team has really developed as the year has gone on and it’s just been a great year for the Bass Pro Shops and our whole team.  I think the last few races we’ve got coming up are some good tracks for us especially Texas, Homestead and Phoenix,  These next two we’re going to try to survive and at least keep a Raybestos Rookie in that top-five for the end of the year and for that banquet.”

HOW DO YOU PREPARE TO RACE AT TALLADEGA?  “I think a bunch of it is luck.  You’ve got to have that on your side.  You can make yourself be smart, put yourself in the right situations and just stay out of bad situations.  You want to keep yourself out of bad situations.  I think we’ve got a good truck going there and just need to run all the laps and finish.  These next two races for us are going to be about finishing.  If we finish up front that’s good but we really need to work on running all the laps these next two and then go after it the last three.”

WHAT WAS THE MAIN THIN THAT YOU LEARNED HERE AT MARTINSVILLE EARLIER THIS SEASON?  “Patience is big.  There’s a lot more laps than what you think and you can’t pass here.  You’ve got to take your time and make the moves at the right time.  It’s a fun place so we’ll just have to see how our day goes today and make sure we qualify up front.  Brakes are pretty big.  It’s a braking track but these trucks the downforce helps a lot to slow us down so you don’t have to use a much like a Cup car would.  You do have to take care of ‘em.  I feel like another big thing about this place is qualifying.  You’ve got to qualify up front so you don’t have to deal with traffic.  Passing here is tough but you’ve to start up front so it makes it that much easier.”

HOW DO YOU MAKE THE TRUCK HANDLE WELL HERE?  “I think you’ve just got to have a good balance.  Make sure that the truck is comfortable for you.  If you feel like you can drive, move around it’s more the comfortability less than speed.”

DOES MARTINSVILLE HAVE THE MOST CHALLENGING PIT ROAD?  “It is, it’s the tightness, and you’ve really got to be looking ahead for your pit stall.  Stuff happens a lot quicker here than anywhere else.  You’ve got be on your game and that’s what they pay us the big bucks for [smiles].”

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.