#37-Kevin Conway was the Raybestos Rookie of the Race in the Feb. 28 Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, posting a 36th-place finish. Conway leads Terry Cook by 19 points (22-3) in the Raybestos Rookie standings entering the March 7 Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. A Raybestos Rookie has scored top-10 finishes in two of the last four spring races at Atlanta. Kevin Harvick scored a memorable win as a Raybestos Rookie in the 2001 Kobalt Tools 500. He beat Jeff Gordon by just .006 seconds to capture his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory in just his third career start. Raybestos Rookies Robby Gordon (1997) and Johnny Benson (1996) won their first career pole positions in back-to-back spring races at Atlanta. Gordon won the pole in his 11th career start while Benson took the top spot in just his fourth career start. Gordon is the most recent Raybestos Rookie to win the pole for the spring race at Atlanta. The late Kenny Irwin holds the record for most laps led by a Raybestos Rookie in the spring race at Atlanta. In 1998, Irwin led five times for 112 laps. See more on my 2010 Rookies page.(3-4-2010)
