#42-Juan Pablo Montoya was the Raybestos Rookie of the Race in the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Montoya scored a 17th-place finish and took top rookie honors for the 11th time this season. Montoya leads David Ragan by 25 points (216-191) in the Raybestos Rookie standings entering the September 2 Sharp AQUOS 500 at California Speedway. Montoya is 18th in the Nextel Cup Series championship standings, best of any Raybestos Rookie. A Raybestos Rookie has won at least one race in each of the past three consecutive seasons. A Raybestos Rookie has finished in the top-five in all three September races at California Speedway. One Raybestos Rookie has won the pole position for the September race at California Speedway: Brian Vickers in 2004. Kyle Busch became the first Raybestos Rookie to win at California Speedway when he captured the 2005 Sony HD 500. Busch scored his first Nextel Cup victory by .554 seconds over Greg Biffle and is the only Raybestos Rookie to win in 14 Nextel Cup Series races at the 2.0-mile speedway. 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 Nextel Cup since the program was created in 2004.(Camp and Assoc/Rabestos PR), fore standings, history and more, see my 2007 Rookie page.(8-30-2007)
