RUDD FINISHES 37th AT RICHMOND RICHMOND, VA (May 6, 2007)  

Ricky Rudd and the #88 PEDIGREE® Brand Food for Dogs Ford Fusion finished 37th in Sunday’s Crown Royal Presents the Jim Stewart 400 at Richmond International Raceway. In a prolonged race weekend filled with rain delays, race postponements, and numerous caution flags, Rudd was caught up in a late-race wreck that ended the afternoon for the #88 PEDIGREE team.

The race, which was scheduled to run Saturday night under the lights, started Saturday under caution as the field ran twelve laps behind the pace car. The red flag came out after Scott Riggs nearly spun out and hit the wall while completing laps under caution. After a 45-minute rain delay, NASCAR Officials postponed the race until Sunday afternoon at 1:15pm EST.

On Sunday, Rudd started the race on alongside Jeff Green on row 6 from the 11th starting position. Rudd’s Robert Yates Racing teammate, David Gilliland, began the race from the 41st position next to Robby Gordon in row 21. Sunday’s weather was an improvement over Saturday night, but weather conditions at the start of the race were temperatures in the 50’s and winds of 20mph. The Bud Pole Winner, Jeff Gordon led the field to the green flag and continued to lead for the first 31 laps of the afternoon before losing the lead to Jimmie Johnson.

The first caution of the afternoon came on lap 5 as the #25 got loose in turn 4 and spun out coming off the turn. The next caution came on lap 42 and was a competition caution issued by NASCAR. Rudd called in over the team radio that the PEDIGREE Ford Fusion was loose on the late entry into the turns making it difficult for him to accelerate and control the car. Crew Chief Butch Hylton decided make a minor adjustment to the trackbar in hopes of alleviating the problem. Rudd would restart from the 17th position.

Lap 57 brought out another caution for debris on the track. Once again Rudd called in over the team radio that his PEDIGREE Ford was not able to get down into the corner of the turns and that the car was still loose entering the turns. The PEDIGREE pit crew made adjustments to the trackbar and changed the tire pressure in the left rear tire.

Handling continued to haunt the #88 team for the remainder of the afternoon. Every adjustment to the trackbar and tire pressures still caused the PEDIGREE Ford to lack front grip on the track. During the fifth caution of the day on lap 120, Rudd called in saying the left front tire felt like it was “chattering” and after a pit stop under the yellow flag, the #88 found itself in the 29th position.

By lap 173, the #88 had faded to the 33rd position and when the green flag pit stops began around lap 200, Hylton decided to wait it out and see if pit strategy would play in favor of the team. The PEDIGREE Ford elected to stay out on the track while the race leaders cycled through pit stops for fuel and fresh tires. Rudd found himself up in the 5th position, but the caution flag failed to fly, and Hylton called in for Rudd to make a stop for fuel and fresh tires on lap 221. Rudd and the crew continued to face the challenge of a car that was not handling in the turns. During a caution on lap 318, Rudd called in that he was still fighting issues of the car getting loose off the corner and that he was not able to turn and add gas at the same time. The PEDIGREE Ford continued to hover around the 30th position for the next 50 laps until misfortune found the #88 team.

On lap 371, Rudd found himself involved in an incident in turn four when he was caught up with #4 of Ward Burton. Coming off of turn four, Burton was nudged from behind by the #14 and then checked up into Rudd. Rudd at the time was in the middle of Burton and Dave Blaney. The accident spun the #88 out on the frontstretch and ended the afternoon for the team due to considerable damage to the front and rear of the car. Rudd finished his afternoon with a 37th-place finish and 31 laps behind the lead lap.

“We were just trying to salvage a decent finish out of it,” stated Rudd after the race. “Those guys were coming on the inside and outside and it was the end of the race. Our car was pretty fast for four or five laps and then it would fade away. I was trying to give everybody room, but I guess everybody got anxious with it being at the end of the race.”

Teammate Gilliland had worked his way up through the field early in the race and then spent the remainder of the afternoon running around the 32nd position. On lap 275, Gilliland got involved in an incident that sent him crashing into the barrier on the backstretch and sent the #38 M&M’s® Ford Fusion to the garage for the remainder of the race.

After the Crown Royal Presents the Jim Stewart 400, Jeff Gordon continues to lead the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver point standings and is now followed by fellow teammate Jimmie Johnson. Rudd dropped to 35th in the driver point standings, while Gilliland lost three spots to the point standings to 28th place.

Johnson won the Crown Royal Presents the Jim Stewart 400, claiming his fourth victory for the 2007 season. Teammate Kyle Busch finished second, followed by Denny Hamlin, Jeff Gordon, and Kurt Busch who rounded out the top-five finishers.

Next weekend the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series travels to Darlington Raceway for the Dodge Avenger 500. Pre-race coverage of the Dodge Avenger 500 begins on Saturday, May 12th at 7:00 p.m. EST on FOX. Radio coverage will be provided by the Motor Racing Network (MRN).