NASCAR Cup

Winston: Raybestos Rookie pre-race notes

* No RaybestosÂ® Rookie points will be awarded in either The Winston or Winston Open races Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway. * RaybestosÂ® Rookie Contender Jimmie Johnson is the only freshman driver eligible for the 2002 The Winston.

Published: May 14, 2002, 2:16 PM

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* No Raybestos® Rookie points will be awarded in either The Winston or Winston Open races Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

* Raybestos® Rookie Contender Jimmie Johnson is the only freshman driver eligible for the 2002 The Winston. Harvick gained entry into this year's event with his win in the 2002 NAPA Auto Parts 500 at California Speedway.

* The 2002 season marks the fifth consecutive year a Raybestos® Rookie Contender has qualified for The Winston.

* The average starting position of the six Raybestos® Rookies who have started The Winston is 10.00, while their average finish is 9.16.

* Only two Raybestos® Rookies have failed to finish The Winston: Kenny Irwin (accident) and Kevin Harvick (mechanical).

* Johnson is the sixth Raybestos® Rookie to start The Winston in his first Winston Cup season. The others are Davey Allison (1987), Jeff Burton (1994), Kenny Irwin (1998), Tony Stewart (1999), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (2000), and Kevin Harvick (2001).

* Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the only Raybestos® Rookie to win The Winston. Earnhardt Jr.'s win in the 2000 The Winston capped an incredible spring for him. He also won in April at Texas Motor Speedway and at Richmond International Raceway in May.

* Davey Allison was the first Raybestos® Rookie to gain entry into The Winston. He qualified by winning the 1987 Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. In his first start in NASCAR's all-start game, Allison started third and finished 12th. Allison made a total of seven starts in The Winston, winning the event in 1991 and 1992.

* Tony Stewart is the only Raybestos® Rookie driver to win the Winston Open. Stewart won the Open in 1999 and transferred into The Winston where he finished second to Terry Labonte.

* Jeff Gordon won the pole for the 1993 Winston Open in his rookie season. Gordon had a rough time in the race, completing just 22 of the event's 50 laps before being sidelined by an accident.

* Jeff Burton turned in a very strong performance as a Raybestos® Rookie during The Winston weekend in 1994. Burton qualified third for the Winston Open and finished fourth in the race, gaining entry into The Winston. Once in the main event, Burton who started 18th, picked his way through five caution periods to place sixth at the checkered flag. Ironically, Burton was driving a Ford sponsored by Raybestos® Brakes.

* One of the most memorable races in the history of all-star weekend came in the 1990 Winston Open. Dick Trickle and Raybestos® Rookie Rob Moroso slugged it out for the win in the closest finish ever in the history of the Open. Trickle took the lead from Moroso on lap 123 of the 134-lap event and held on for the win by just eight inches. <pre> RAYBESTOS® ROOKIES IN THE WINSTON BY THE NUMBERS

Driver                  Year        Start       Finish     Earnings
Davey Allison           1987           3          12       $10.400
Jeff Burton             1994          18           6       $25,000
Kenny Irwin             1998          10          13       $18,000
Tony Stewart            1999          21           2       $95,940
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.     2000           5           1       $516,410
Kevin Harvick           2001           3          21       $33,200

-raybestos-

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