Brendan Gaughan was the Raybestos Rookie of the Race in the O’Reilly Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway. Gaughan posted a 16th-place finish and took Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the eighth time this season and for the second consecutive event.
Justin Allgaier leads Gaughan by eight points (228-220) entering the Able Body Labor 200 at Phoenix International Raceway.
Allgaier is fifth in the series championship standings, best of any Raybestos Rookie. He holds a 13-point edge over sixth-place Mike Bliss and 105 on seventh-place Steve Wallace.
At least one Raybestos Rookie has scored a top-10 finish in 26 of 33 NASCAR Nationwide Series races this season.
Three Raybestos Rookies are in the top-10 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship standings. Allgaier is fifth followed by Gaughan (ninth) and Micheal Annett (tenth).
Landon Cassill was the Raybestos Rookie of the Race in the 2008 Able Body Labor 200, posting a sixth-place finish.
In 15 NASCAR Nationwide Series races at Phoenix, Greg Biffle (2001) and Carl Edwards (2005) are the only Raybestos Rookies to score a win. Both drivers found victory lane in the fall race at the one-mile Arizona speedway.(Camp & Assoc / Raybestos PR)(11-11-2009)
