#42-Juan Pablo Montoya was the Raybestos Rookie of the Race in Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Montoya finished eighth, his second top-10 finish in eight Nextel Cup Series starts. He took Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the third time in 2007. Montoya leads #6-David Ragan by four points (81-77) in the Raybestos Rookie standings entering the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Montoya is 13th in the Nextel Cup Series championship standings, best of any Raybestos Rookie. At least one Raybestos Rookie has finished inside the top-10 in each of the past FIVE consecutive Nextel Cup races at Phoenix: 2004: Kasey Kahne, fifth (fall race) 2005: Kyle Busch, eighth (spring race) 2005: Kyle Busch, FIRST (fall race) 2006: Clint Bowyer, fifth (spring race) 2007: Denny Hamlin, third (fall race) Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart are the only Raybestos Rookies to win in 21 Nextel Cup races at Phoenix. Three Raybestos Rookies have won pole positions at Phoenix, all coming in the fall race: Stewart, Casey Atwood (2001) and Ryan Newman (2002).(Camp and Assoc/Raybestos PR), for rookie standings, history and more, see my 2007 Rookies page.(4-19-2007)
