Montoya honored as 2007 Raybestos Rookie of Year

CONCORD, N.C. -- For Juan Montoya, David Ragan and Willie Allen, Tuesday was a day they'd looked forward to for about 10 months.

On Tuesday, in front of the Speedway Club at Lowe's Motor Speedway, the three Raybestos Rookie of the Year winners peeled the yellow stripes off their bumpers and joined the ranks of NASCAR veterans.

David Ragan had four top-fives and nine top-10s, and won the last Busch Pole. He finished fifth in points.

"When I first came here, they told me I was running for Raybestos Rookie of the Year, and I was like, 'you've got to be kidding me,'" said Montoya, the 1999 Indianapolis 500 winner and a seven-time winner in Formula One. "I thought I would be an exception or something. In a lot of ways, I really was a rookie. Do I have a lot of experience as a racing driver? Yes, but I've never been in a stock car before, so coming here and getting into it was a big deal. We had a lot of fun."

The biggest hurdle Montoya had to overcome was reading his racecar, he said.

"At Daytona, first race of the year, I thought we had a good car, and we did, but after Lap 5, it was so tight I was just about to get lapped every time it went yellow," Montoya said. "It's just knowing how far off I was when I thought the car was good. When you think you have a good car, you're still miles away, and other times when you're so loose you're about to kill yourself, you're competitive.

"To get that into your system is pretty hard."

It's also a financial honor, as Montoya will receive a record $106,500 at next week's NASCAR Awards Banquet in New York City. The initial payout for the Raybestos program is $65,000, with another $24,000 coming from winning Rookie of the Race honors.

He also earned another $17,500 for being the top rookie finisher in five of the Magnificent Seven bonus races this season.

Montoya won the rookie battle over Ragan by 24 points, winning Rookie of the Race honors in three of the last five races to earn that edge. Rookie of the Year points are awarded on a 10-1 scale (the highest-finishing rookie gets 10 points, the second highest-finishing rookie gets 9, etc.).

"It's been an exciting year for me," Montoya said. "Coming to NASCAR was a big deal for me, and I wanted to go back and enjoy racing, and I think I achieved that here. The cars are a handful, and it's been a really hard transition.

"I learned a lot, and I would like to thank everyone at Raybestos for all they've done for us."

Montoya is the fourth driver of the Texaco-Havoline car to win rookie of the year honors, joining the late Davey Allison (1987), the late Kenny Irwin (1998) and Jamie McMurray (2003), and he's the second to drive the No. 42 for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (McMurray).

Ragan finished second to Montoya in the Nextel Cup rookie battle, but won the honor in the Busch Series over fellow Ford driver Marcos Ambrose, 272-245.

"There were a lot of ups and downs, running both series," Ragan said. "We came close to Juan on the Cup side, and I learned a lot on Saturdays to race with on Sunday. I learned to use the things I learned one day and incorporate it to the following day. At times it was pretty challenging."

Willie Allen finished sixth at 'Dega.

As successful as he was in his rookie season, there were still some rookie moments for Ragan.

"I remember going to Watkins Glen and it had rained Friday and we didn't get a lot of practice in the Cup car," he said. "On Saturday, I went out for Busch practice and got off into the campground or something, the spotter couldn't see where I was ... I was over by the Trans-Am cars and I was just trying to find my way onto the track. A lot of these guys have been to these tracks 15 or 20 times, and here I am my first time there and getting lost."

Ragan, son of former NASCAR driver Ken Ragan, is the third consecutive driver from what is now known as Roush Fenway Racing to earn the award in the Busch Series, following Carl Edwards in 2005 and Danny O'Quinn last year. Greg Biffle won the award for Roush in 2001.

Allen, who drove the No. 13 ThorSport Racing Chevrolet Silverado, won the Craftsman Truck Series award by a narrow eight points over Tim Sauter, 196-188. He won the Raybestos Rookie of the Race title five times, including three of the last six races to take the title. Sauter won two of the last three races to make it close.

"This means a lot," he said. "I can't thank Raybestos and NASCAR enough. Just to be on the list of all the drivers who have received it in the past and gone on to the Cup Series and made a name for themselves is an honor.

"This is the goal all of us rookies set out to achieve, winning Raybestos Rookie of the Year. That was our goal and we achieved it, myself and the team, and no matter what happens from here, they can't take this away from us."

Allen, who will return to the Thor Chevy next season, is confident that 2008 will see his team improve on his 15th-place championship finish.

"We're really close," Allen said. "We had some mechanical failures early this year and we think we have those fixed, so we are really close to competing for top-five and top-10 finishes every week."

Raybestos officials also announced a new logo for the 2008 season, the first redesign in the 10 years the company has been the sponsor of the rookie awards.

Raybestos, a division of Affinia Group Inc., is a global leader in the on- and off-highway replacement parts and service industry and is based in McHenry, Ill.