Gastonia, NC — April 20, 2010

Denny Hamlin held off Jimmie Johnson to win the Samsung Mobile 500 Monday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway.

Cars equipped with WIX Filters, a member of the Affinia Group family of brands, have now racked up FOUR NASCAR Sprint Cup Series wins in 2010 including back-to-back victories at Phoenix (Avondale, Ariz.) International Raceway and Texas in addition to winning the Budweiser Shootout and Gatorade Duel special event races.

Crew chief Mike Ford opted to change two tires during their final pit stop, allowing Hamlin to restart second alongside race leader Jeff Burton for the 12-lap dash to the finish.

When the green flag waved on lap 323 of the 334-lap race, Hamlin flashed by Burton to take the lead and never looked back. Johnson rallied in the closing laps to take second but Hamlin held him off, crossing the finish line .152 seconds ahead of Johnson.

“I think the big point for me is I knew once (Jeff) Burton gave me that outside line that I was going to be able to do something with it,” Hamlin said. “I saw on the previous restart that he struggled getting through the first corner, and I knew if I could just hang right there on his outside I could clear him through three and four and we were able to do that.

“It was just one of those days where every run we got our car better. Every run the pit crew did a good job of getting us some spots. It all paid off in the long run. We had one of those days where it showed how strong our race team is. Every little piece of it was very strong, from the pit crew to the car to the driver getting better through the course of the race, and our race car kept getting better.”

Ford said he used a conservative approach early in the race, waiting until the end to be aggressive with pit strategy.

“We used the first part of the race to play around with some changes,” Ford said. “Like Denny (Hamlin) mentioned, each change got a little bit better. We watched guys take two tires earlier in the race and knew what to expect. And with the possibility of tire issues, didn't want to be aggressive and have a problem and ruin the day so waited till the end to get two tires and it worked out for us.”

Hamlin said that he’s greatly improved this season on gaining positions in late-race sprints to the finish.

“This year I have gotten better at getting the maximum out of the car that's possible at the end of the races,” Hamlin said. “But I think it's just my driving style is so conservative and not wanting to get in a wreck most of the time that that style doesn’t pay off in shootouts like this.”

Hamlin led just once covering the final 12 laps of the race. He scored his second win of the 2010 season and his first in 10 races at Texas Motor Speedway. Hamlin won for the 10th time in 159 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.

Hamlin averaged 146.230 mph in a race that took 3 hours, 25 minutes and 34 seconds to complete. There were 29 lead changes among 12 drivers and the race was slowed by seven cautions for 32 laps.

Since 1939, WIX® Filters, a member of the Affinia Group family of brands, has been an innovator in filtration products. WIX designs, manufactures and distributes products for automotive, diesel, agricultural, industrial and specialty filter markets. Its product line includes oil, air, cabin interior, fuel, coolant, transmission and hydraulic filters for automobiles, trucks and off-road equipment. WIX, a member of the Affinia family of brands, is the number one filter in NASCAR and an exclusive NASCAR Performance Product. Its NASCAR relationship also includes the WIX Filters Lap Leader Award, which recognizes the drivers leading the most laps in each race. For more information, visit http://www.wixfilters.com/.

Affinia Group Inc. is an innovative global leader in the design, manufacture, distribution and marketing of industrial grade products and services, including extensive offerings of aftermarket parts for automotive and heavy-duty vehicles. With more than $2 billion in annual revenue, Affinia has operations in North and South America, Europe, Asia and India. For more information, visit http://www.affiniagroup.com/.

*Affinia Group Inc.’s affiliated companies include Brake Parts Inc. WIX Filtration Corp LLC, Affinia Products Corp LLC and other high quality manufacturers of the Affinia family of brands.