With the end of the season, NASCAR crowned its Rookies of the Year and every one of the drivers’ first names, Johnny Sauter, Justin Allgaier and Joey Logano, started with the letter “J” for 2009. 

Johnny Sauter won the Rookie of the Year honors in the Camping World Truck Series, while Justin Allgaier and Joey Logano took the titles in the Nationwide and Cup Series respectively.

Sauter, driving the no. 13 FUN SAND/RODNEY ADKINS/CURB RECORDS Chevrolet, clinched the Truck Series Rookie of the Year honors at Homestead in the Ford 200 Truck Series finale.  Sauter finished the race in ninth place, his third consecutive top-ten finish and 13^th top-ten finish in the 2009 season.

The Truck Rookie of the Year scored one win in the Series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in a close finish with teammate Matt Crafton.  Sauter finished just 2. 474 seconds ahead of Crafton and led the most laps in the race.

Sauter also scored two poles in the 2009 season, one at Las Vegas and the other at Phoenix.  At the latter track, Sauter was the first Rookie pole winner in 17 races.  At Las Vegas, Sauter joined Bryon Reffner as the only Rookie to earn the pole in 13 races.

“I mean, I’m tickled to death right now,” Sauter said of his honors.   “It’s phenomenal.”

While Sauter celebrated his Raybestos Rookie honors, he also had an eye towards the 2010 season.  “I’m looking forward to it,” Sauter said.   “We’re tweaking everything we’ve got.  We know what works right now and if we can just improve on that. I’m stoked.”

The Nationwide Rookie of the Year honors went to another driver whose name started in “J”, Justin Allgaier.   The driver of the Verizon Wireless no. 12 Penske Dodge clinched his title in the Ford 300 at Homestead, where he finished the in the 20^th position.

“Last year at this time I wasn't sure exactly what we were going to do,” Allgaier said.  “I thought we were going to run about 10 races. And so to come out here with the rookie of the year means a lot.”

Allgaier, who was the 2008 ARCA Series champion, scored three top-five finishes, as well as 12 top-ten finishes in his first season with Penske Racing.  Allgaier just edged Rusty Wallace Racing driver Brendan Gaughan for the rookie honors.

“I think that for me it means a lot,” Allgaier said.   “I think with Brendan being a multi‑time Truck racer and having Cup experience and some of the other talent that was involved, I feel good that we were able to come out on top, and it just really puts a period on the end of the season for us.”

Allgaier is also looking forward to the 2010 season.  “It's good to get [the rookie award]. It takes a lot of pressure off,” Allgaier said.  “It means a lot to me, and hopefully we can come back next year and run that much harder and be that much more competitive.”

The final “J” honored as Rookie of the Year was Joey Logano in the Sprint Cup Series.  Logano filled the seat in the no. 20 Home Depot Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing vacated by Tony Stewart, who left to form his own team.

Logano notched the honors by finishing 24^th in the Ford 400, the final Cup race of the season at Homestead.  At age 19 years, Logano is the youngest to win Rookie of the Year honors in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.     

Logano, nicknamed “Sliced Bread”, lived up to his hype in his rookie season, scoring one win, albeit a rain-shortened one in New Hampshire, three top-five finishes and seven top-ten finishes.    Logano finished strong against the other two Rookie contenders, Scott Speed and Max Papis.

"That's cool," Logano said of his rookie honors. "That was one of our big goals this year. It's pretty neat to win Raybestos Rookie of the Year.”

 Logano paid tribute to his sponsor Home Depot for “sticking behind me throughout the year.”   Although not pleased with his finish of 20^th in the points standings, Logano deemed it “okay.”

 “In the beginning of the season if you had told me that's where we were going to finish I'd have been ecstatic about it,” Logano said.  “But now you always want better."

Logano acknowledges that he has work to do, but is also very much looking forward to his 2010 season.  “By no means I'm not there yet,” Logano said.  “But I feel like we made big steps.   Hopefully through the offseason here we can test a little bit and get some more seat time in these things and come better next year."

Raybestos® sponsors the Rookie of the Year honors in NASCAR’s three elite series.  Raybestos brake and chassis parts are produced by affiliated companies in Affinia’s Global Brake and Chassis Group, the leading manufacturer of braking systems and chassis parts in the transportation industry.   Raybestos brand braking and chassis systems are also the only systems used by NASCAR’s Joe Gibbs Racing in competition.