RUDD FINISHES 30th AT NEW HAMPSHIRE UNDER CHALLENGING CONDITIONS

LOUDON, NH (July 1, 2007) – Ricky Rudd and the #88 Snickers® Ford Fusion finished 28th Sunday afternoon in the LENOX Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. After a difficult series of practice sessions earlier in the weekend, the #88 Snickers Racing team battled back from the challenges their car posed on Sunday in New Hampshire.

Rudd’s #88 Snickers Ford began the LENOX Industrial Tools 300 from the 42nd starting position on the outside of Sterling Marlin on row 21. Robert Yates Racing teammate, David Gilliland, began the race from row 14 in the 27th position on the inside of Kasey Kahne. The green flag flew at 2:46pm EST as Bud Pole Winner, Dave Blaney, led the field to the green flag but lost the lead on lap 31 to Jeff Gordon who started the race from the eleventh position and battled his way up to the front of the field.

On the opening lap, Rudd maneuvered his way up to 38th, but the caution flag came out early during lap five brought out by Ward Burton’s #4 dropping oil. Rudd was scored in the 39th spot and Gilliland restarted 28th during the restart on lap ten. Dave Blaney continued to lead followed closely by Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Jeff Gordon in hot pursuit and hungry for the lead.

During green flag racing on lap 24, Rudd called in to Crew Chief Butch Hylton over team radio communications that the Snickers Ford felt as though the brakes weren’t the same as they had been earlier in the weekend. New Hampshire International Speedway is a track in which drivers combat conditions where the left front of their car gets “locked up” making the car tight and difficult to accelerate and keep under control in the turns.

As if battling a tight race car wasn’t enough for Hylton and his team to resolve, on lap 39, Rudd called in stating that the first ignition for the car had died and that he had switched to the second ignition system. All NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series cars are equipped with two ignitions in case one fails during race conditions. The Snickers Ford then had to run on the back-up system only 40 laps into the 300 lap race.

On lap 41 the bad news kept coming as Rudd radioed in to Hylton that his car was popping out of gear and he had to use only one hand to drive the car since his other hand was holding the shifter in gear. The #88 pit crew sprung into action and had a plan to use a bungee cord to assist Rudd with the gears, but repairs would have to wait until a caution when the team would have enough time to quickly make the repairs. Rudd had to endure over 40 laps of one-handed driving before the repairs were made.

The first series of green flag pit stops began on lap 67 and the #88 Snickers Ford came in for four fresh tires, fuel, and an adjustment to the jack bolt on lap 68. By lap 78, Rudd had moved up to 32nd and Gilliland had dropped to 35th after the #38 had received a penalty for speeding on pit road. The #88 team kept running laps in the hope that a caution flag would fly in order to make the necessary repairs. The team got their wish on lap 95 during a caution for debris. A pit stop on lap 97 found the team adding more brake coolant, cleaning the front grill, and adding the bungee in an attempt to correct the shifter issue Rudd had encountered earlier in the race. Four fresh tires and fuel would be added during a pit stop the next time by on lap 98.

The Snickers Ford restarted 38th on lap 101 and yet again handling issues plagued the team. Rudd called in on lap 117 to Hylton that the #88 felt as though the back-end of the car kept swinging out from underneath when Rudd was driving in the turns. Hylton adjusted the jack bolt again as well as a change to the tire pressures during the next pit stop on lap 123 under caution.

Rudd spent the remainder of the race fighting to keep the Snickers Ford running well in an effort not to fall too many laps behind the lead cars. During the second round of green flag pit stops, the #88 team caught another break when the #13 hit the wall in turns three and four on lap 202 bringing out the fourth caution of the day and allowing Rudd to pit under yellow and save time and track position. Rudd would restart 30th and remained in that position for the rest of the race unable to catch the cars in front of him due to the Snickers Ford which was still tight in the turns.

In the end, Rudd finished 30th and Gilliland finished 28th in the LENOX Industrial Tools 300. Gilliland was pleased with the performance of his #38 M&M’s Ford Fusion, but the penalty for speeding off pit road proved costly as he was never able to make up the track position lost after that event.

“We just had trouble right off the bat today,” stated Rudd following the race. “As it turns out, we thought we were able to fix the car, but our Snickers Ford just kept popping out of gear today. It was a real challenge because I had to literally drive with one hand on the steering wheel and the other hand holding the car in gear. I did that until the caution flag came out which turned out to be almost 100 laps after the problem started. The guys fixed the issue we had earlier with the car bouncing all around in the turns, but it just was just a tough day for us overall.”

Denny Hamlin won Sunday’s LENOX Industrial Tools 300 making this is first NEXTEL Cup Series victory of the 2007 season. Hamlin began Sunday’s race from the 11th starting spot and led a total of 46 laps in Sunday’s race holding off Jeff Gordon in the final laps of the race. Gordon finished second followed by Dale Earnhardt Incorporated teammates Martin Truex, Jr., and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in third and fourth. Jimmie Johnson finished fifth for the afternoon.

After Sunday’s LENOX Industrial Tools 300, Jeff Gordon continues to lead the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver point standings by 156 points over Denny Hamlin who remains in second. Matt Kenseth gained a position moving him up to third, while Jimmie Johnson lost a position in the point standings, falling to fourth. Jeff Burton is in fifth and rounds out the top-five drivers in the driver point standings. Rudd lost one spot dropping to 30th in the driver point standings, while Gilliland also fell one spot in the driver point standings moving to the 32nd position.

Next weekend the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series travels to Daytona International Speedway for the Pepsi 400 Saturday night under the lights. Pre-race television coverage begins on Saturday, July 7th at 6:30 p.m. EST on TNT. Radio coverage will be provided by the Motor Racing Network (MRN).