RUDD MANEUVERS HIS WAY TO FINISH 26th 
IN PHOENIX AVONDALE, AZ (April 21, 2007)

 – Ricky Rudd and the #88 Snickers® Ford Fusion finished 26th in Saturday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. After a disappointing qualifying run on Thursday which placed the team in the 39th starting spot, Rudd and his crew were determined to run the Snickers Ford up through the field on Saturday night. Rudd started the race alongside Kyle Petty on row 20. Rudd’s Robert Yates Racing teammate, David Gilliland, began the race from the 30th position next to Kenny Wallace in row 15. The Bud Pole Winner, Jeff Gordon led the field to the green flag and continued to do so for the first 28 laps of the evening before losing the lead to Denny Hamlin. 

By lap 28, Rudd had maneuvered his way to the 34th position. When the first caution of the day came out for debris on the track on lap 36, Rudd jumped up to 31st place after an extremely fast pit stop from his crew. Rudd was fairly happy with the car’s handling at the start of the race and no major adjustments were made to the Snickers Ford. The first accident of the night occurred on lap 42 when David Ragan bumped into Tony Stewart and then spun himself out crashing into David Stremme. Scott Riggs and Casey Mears were also involved in the incident. During the caution, Rudd pitted and jumped up to 27th- place after the pit stop. Hamlin continued to lead the event followed closely by Kevin Harvick. 

During the next caution on lap 97 the #88 Snickers team elected to pit for four tires and fuel, jumping up to the 26th position in the running order. Rudd was very quiet on the team radio, content with his car’s handling and determined to gain track position. After the caution and pit stop rotation, reigning race winner Harvick had raced to the lead. On lap 140, Rudd relayed to Crew Chief Butch Hylton that his car could use a little more turning capability and that it was starting to feel a little loose entering the turns. Luck was on the Snickers Team’s side as a caution came out on lap 149 that enabled the team to pit and make a minor adjustment to the trackbar while adding fresh tires and fuel. Rudd continued to log laps under the green flag, passing Dave Blaney for 24th position with his eyes locked in on Reed Sorenson for the 23rd spot. Rudd eventually caught up to Sorenson and passed him for the 23rd position, but was unable to hold on to 23rd for very long.

Once again, the car’s handling came into play. As day turned to night temperatures decreased which caused a loose-handling condition for Rudd. The condition was magnified due to lapped traffic making it difficult for Rudd to make up positions on the track. Hylton called Rudd to pit road on lap 282 at which time the crew once again made a minor change to the trackbar during a green flag pit stop. The final caution of the evening came out on lap 283 as Rudd was re-entering the track which placed the #88 Snickers Ford another lap down to the race leaders. Rudd struggled to gain track position during the final 30 laps of the race and eventually finished the night in the 26th position. “It was a really interesting weekend for us,” Rudd said after the race. “After a tough qualifying run on Thursday, we were really determined to turn this car around and that’s what we ended up doing tonight. 

We went out there and ran a smart race and tried to be patient moving up through the field. I still think that we have a lot to figure out with these new cars, but I’m really happy that we were able to work our way up to 26th. I think we learned a lot from this weekend.” Teammate Gilliland had been running around the 30th position at the start of the race but quickly found himself battling a tight race car all evening. The #38 team was unable work their way up through the field and they finished the race in 35th place. After the Subway Fresh Fit 500, Rudd dropped to 32nd in the driver point standings, while Gilliland lost two spots to the point standings to 29th place. Gordon won the Subway Fresh Fit 500 and with his victory, tied Dale Earnhardt with 76 career victories. Tony Stewart , who had led 132 laps, finished second, followed by Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, and Matt Kenseth rounding out the top-five finishers. Gordon remains the leader in the driver point standings for the 2007 season and after Phoenix increased his lead over Jeff Burton to 74 points. 

Next weekend the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series heads to Talladega Superspeedway for the Aaron’s 499. Pre-race coverage of the Aaron’s 499 begins on Sunday, April 29th at 1:00 p.m. CDT on FOX. Radio coverage will be provided by the Motor Racing Network (MRN). ###