Scott Lagasse Jr. was the Raybestos Rookie of the Race in the Aaron’s 312 at Talladega Superspeedway. Lagasse Jr. scored an eighth-place finish, his best in 22 NASCAR Nationwide Series starts. He collected his third top-10 finish of the 2009 season and his second in the last three races. Lagasse Jr. led twice for four laps, the first laps he has led in his Nationwide Series career.
At least one Raybestos Rookie has scored top-10 finishes in the last SIX consecutive NASCAR Nationwide Series races.
Three Raybestos Rookies are in the top-10 in Nationwide Series points: Scott Lagasse Jr. (eighth), Justin Allgaier (ninth) and Michael McDowell (10th).
Allgaier leads Brendan Gaughan by four points (83-79) in the Raybestos Rookie standings entering the Lipton Tea 250 at Richmond International Raceway.
Bryan Clauson was the Raybestos Rookie of the Race in the 2008 Lipton Tea 250, posting a 21st-place finish.
Since the Raybestos Rookie program was created in 1989, two Raybestos Rookies have won pole positions for the spring race at Richmond (20 races): Wayne Grubb in 1998 and Kyle Busch in 2004.
Kyle Busch is the only Raybestos Rookie to win from the pole in the spring race at Richmond (20 races). Busch captured the 2004 event by .150 second over Greg Biffle.
Busch and Carl Edwards (2005) are the only Raybestos Rookies to win the spring race at Richmond.
Busch led the 2004 spring race four times for 236 of the 250 laps, the most laps led by a Raybestos Rookie in 20 Nationwide Series races at Richmond.(Raybestos/Camp & Assoc. PR)(4-27-2009)
