#1-Martin Truex Jr. was the Raybestos Rookie of the Race in the October 8 UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Truex Jr. finished fifth, his best finish in 39 Nextel Cup Series races and the best by a Raybestos Rookie on a restrictor plate track this season. Truex Jr. scored the fifth top-10 finish of his career at Talladega and took Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the second time in 2006. #11-Denny Hamlin scored a 21st-place finish at Talladega. He is fifth in the Nextel Cup Series championship standings, 51 points behind leader #31-Jeff Burton. Hamlin is 18 behind fourth-place #29-Kevin Harvick and leads sixth-place #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr. by 55. Hamlin led once for one lap. A Raybestos Rookie has finished in the top 15 in all 30 races this season. Hamlin leads #07-Clint Bowyer by 45 points (265-220) in the Raybestos Rookie standings entering the October 14 Bank of America 500 at Lowes Motor Speedway. Hamlin was the Raybestos Rookie of the Race in the May 28 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (race No. 12), grabbing a ninth-place finish. He was also the only Raybestos Rookie to lead a lap in the race (three times for 25 laps). Travis Kvapil was the Raybestos Rookie of the Race in the 2005 Bank of America 500, posting a 17th-place finish. Kasey Kahne holds the record for most laps led by a Raybestos Rookie in the Bank of America 500 at Charlotte (since 1975). Kahne led the 2004 race four times for 207 of the 334 laps. Since 1975, only two Raybestos Rookies have won pole positions for the fall race at Charlotte: Jeff Gordon (1993) and Ward Burton (1994). Since 1975, only two Raybestos Rookies have scored a top-five finish in the fall race at Charlotte: Ron Bouchard (fifth in 1981) and Jeff Gordon (fifth in 1993).(Raybestos PR), see more notes, standings, history, records and more on the 2006 Rookie Page and past notes on the 2006 Past Rookie Notes.(10-14-2006)
