MARTINSVILLE NOTHING TO JOKE ABOUT FOR THE #88

MARTINSVILLE, VA (April 1, 2007) – Ricky Rudd and the #88 Snickers® Ford Fusion secured a 13th place finish in Sunday’s Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway. April Fool’s Day in Martinsville was in fact not a joking matter as it provided the #88 team their best finish so far of the 2007 season. In a day filled with challenges, finishing in the top 15, after qualifying in the 17 th position, left Rudd and his team thrilled with the turnaround they had attained in Martinsville.Rudd started the race alongside fellow Virginian, Elliott Sadler, on the inside of row 9. Robert Yates Racing teammate, David Gilliland, started from the 16th spot in front of Rudd. Pole sitter Denny Hamlin led the field to the green flag and continued to lead the field for 40 laps until Elliott Sadler took over the lead. The first caution of the day occurred on lap 3 when Casey Mears spun out and after a restart the field once again found itself under caution when the #43 of Bobby Labonte got loose and hit the wall in Turn 1. The #88 team had conducted their first pit stop of the day taking on only fuel and right-side tires. The pit strategy paid off, and the Snickers Ford jumped up eight spots coming off pit road to put the team 11th on the restart.

Around lap 300, Rudd called in over the team radio and reported that the interior of the car had become extremely hot. The Snickers Ford’s alternator had died and so had the car’s power steering. In an effort to conserve power in the car, Rudd had to manually switch off his radiator fans and his helmet’s cooling fans throughout the race since the car was relying on a two battery power system.The remainder of the afternoon had the #88 team searching for ways to keep their vehicle hovering around the 11th position. Pit strategy helped keep the team up in the front of the pack for the majority of the day, regardless of the car’s power issues.There were however more obstacles to overcome for the day, as Mother Nature decided to send rain along and the red flag came out on lap 354, delaying the race for over 30 minutes. During the red flag, Rudd asked to be taken to the infield car center where he received oxygen to help him cool off due to the extreme heat in his Snickers Ford. Once the racing resumed, Rudd restarted in 19th which was his lowest spot for the day. During a caution on lap 376 due to Tony Raines slamming into the wall, the #88 team decided to stay out on the track and gain back valuable track position. The decision paid off, as they quickly found themselves restarting in the 6th spot.

Two more caution flags would fly before the end of the race including one where Dale Jarrett lost a tire from his car and Kevin Harvick’s vehicle caught on fire proving that once again, April Fool’s Day at Martinsville would be anything but a typical Sunday drive. In the end, the Snickers Ford found itself with a 13th place finish for the day.“We probably had a 10th-place car today,” said Rudd after the race. “We ended up 13th just due to trying to take care of all the issues on the car. I guess 13th with the way we’ve been going lately is a pretty big boost for these guys. Going into qualifying we were as low as 35th or 40th on the speed chart and we hit on something and qualified 16th or 17th. Overall, I think we could have finished better today, but we overcame a few big challenges this afternoon so I’m happy that we were able to place in the top 15 today.” Teammate Gilliland had been running around the 22nd position for the majority of the day until his rear end gear broke with 30 laps left in the race, causing his M&M’s® Ford Fusion to finish 39th overall. As of the Goody’s Cool Orange 500, both Masterfoods USA teammates are back-to-back in the driver point standings with Rudd in 29th and Gilliland in 30th.Jimmie Johnson won the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 while barely holding off his fellow Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon who finished second by only 0.065 seconds. The pole-sitter for the day, Denny Hamlin, finished third, while Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. rounded out the Top 5. This was the third victory for Johnson this season and the fourth overall for the Hendrick organization.Next weekend the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series has the weekend off, but the following weekend the series will move on to Texas Motor Speedway for the Samsung 500. Pre-race coverage of the Samsung 500 begins on Sunday, April 15th at 1:30 p.m. EDT on FOX, followed by the green flag at 2:00 p.m. Radio coverage is provided by the Performance Racing Network (PRN).

 

#88 GRABS 17th STARTING POSITION IN MARTINSVILLE

MARTINSVILLE, VA (March 30, 2007) – Ricky Rudd will start from the 17thth position Sunday in the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Rudd posted a fast lap time of 20.138 seconds at 94.031 mph during Friday’s qualifying session.

“We’re not where we need to be,” said Rudd after his qualifying run.  “It’s kind of difficult because you unload off the truck and you come to this track that you’re not allowed to test at. We’re seeing a new tire along with the brand new Car of Tomorrow so both of those changes left us with a lot of question marks coming to Martinsville this weekend.”

The qualifying run for the Snickers® Ford was a tremendous improvement after posting a 33rd fastest practice lap earlier in the day. Friday morning found the team scrambling to free up the Snickers Ford after Rudd called in that the car needed more front grip in the turns, otherwise he was happy with the car’s set-up. After some changes to the trackbar and the springs, Rudd posted his fastest lap of the weekend’s first practice session with a 20.170 second lap.

Rudd’s teammate David Gilliand clinched the 16th starting spot. Both Masterfoods USA teammates were separated by 0.007 of a second on their qualifying lap times Friday. Gilliland was fighting a car that was loose during practice, but the #38 team was happy with the race trim set-up.

“We both came with different philosophies because neither one of us knew which direction to go in,” stated Rudd in regards to both Robert Yates cars.  “I think they (the #38 team) went one way and we went another. Now we’re both kind of back to where we ended up really close together on speed for the day. Hopefully we’ll be able to get a few more adjustments to the Snickers Ford during our practices tomorrow so that Sunday will be a really great finish for us.”

Denny Hamlin clinched his first pole of the 2007 season by posting a fast lap time of 19.911 seconds and a high speed of 95.103mph. Hamlin will roll off the starting grid alongside Jamie McMurray in the second position. Jeff Gordon, Ken Schrader, and J.J. Yeley finish out the top-five starters for the Goody’s Cool Orange 500.

Coverage of the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 is scheduled for the FOX Television Network is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. ET on Sunday. Radio coverage will be provided by Motor Racing Network (MRN).

VIRGINIA NATIVE HOPES HOME STATE ADVANTAGE WILL 
GIVE SNICKERS TEAM A LIFT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (March 27, 2007) – After a disappointing finish in Bristol with the Car of Tomorrow that was the result of a late-race wreck, the #88 Snickers team looks to regroup this weekend as the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series heads to Martinsville Speedway for the Goody’s Cool Orange 500. Ricky Rudd, a Virginia native, hopes that a home-state advantage will help to pilot his team to the solid finish they’ve been looking for since the 2007 season started.

Quoting Snickers Driver, Ricky Rudd:

• Going into Martinsville this weekend, what are the goal s or challenges for you and the team?

“We always run really well in Martinsville. I know that I’ve been lucky enough to have won three of those wonderful grandfather clocks and it’d be nice to have a fourth one. At this point it’s a whole lot more of the unknown than as in years past. Some tracks you just naturally do well at and Martinsville has been one of those for me. I’m open-minded about this weekend, and I hope we can do well. I love the racetrack and I enjoy racing at Martinsville. It’s been a good track to me.”

• What are your opinions on the new Car of Tomorrow after Bristol?

“Some guys had it figured out and some guys didn’t this past weekend. We were about a mid-pack car before we got wrecked late in the race. We never did get our car to turn in the corners, but it was sort of a community-wide problem where some guys were able to work through it. We just couldn’t get it figured out. Once you get a handle on the car, it’s honestly not that much different to drive than our current vehicles.”

Quoting Snickers Crew Chief, Butch Hylton:

• What are the challenges heading into Martinsville this weekend?

“We really need to get a strong finish in Martinsville on Sunday. We ran well last fall here and it would be great to be able to return and do that again. Of course, we’ll be running a Car of Tomorrow again this weekend and our team is still adjusting to how the car handles and performs at various tracks. We’re hoping to get a great run out of our Snickers Ford and we’ll try to avoid getting caught up in any wrecks.”

• NOTES OF INTEREST:

* Virginia-native Rudd will be racing just 225 miles from his hometown of Chesapeake, VA this weekend at Martinsville * With 53 career starts, Rudd has the most starts at Martinsville among drivers competing in the 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series * Rudd has a driver rating of 92.7 at Martinsville which is fourth best among current NASCAR NEXTEL Cup drivers * Rudd’s average finish at Martinsville is 14.9 * Rudd led 18 of his 53 Martinsville races for a career total of 1,571 laps led * Rudd has a fourth-best average running position of 10.521 at Martinsville among all active drivers * Rudd’s best finish at Martinsville is a series of victories scored in 1983, 1986, and 1998 * Rudd has started a race at Martinsville from the pole four times (1981,1982,1983, and 1988)

• MASTERFOODS, USA

Masterfoods USA, the United States food, snack and petcare operations of Mars, Incorporated, is one of the world’s leading food manufacturers. With more than $5 billion in annual sales, the combined food, snack and petcare segments are a symbol of excellence for quality brands. Headquartered in Hackettstown, NJ, Masterfoods, USA employs more than 7,000 associates in the United States, with 15 manufacturing facilities nationwide. The company owns some of the world’s favorite brands, including M&M’S® Brand, Snickers® Brand, Uncle Ben’s® Brand, PEDIGREE® Brand Food for Dogs and WHISKAS® Brand Food for Cats.

• CHASSIS 705

Chassis 705 is a brand new Car of Tomorrow chassis and has never been tested.