SNICKERS TEAM LOOKS TO WIN BIG IN VEGAS

CHARLOTTE, NC (March 6, 2007) – This weekend the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series travels to Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS) for Sunday’s UAW-DiamlerChrysler 400. After a successful test session at Las Vegas in late January, Ricky Rudd and his Snickers team hope that “Lady Luck” smiles upon them even with the onslaught of new racing conditions teams will be dealing with at the newly renovated track.

New banking at Las Vegas, along with a new tire compound from Goodyear, presents a series of new challenges for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series teams this weekend. What used to be a flat 1.5-mile track now features 20 degrees of banking in the turns. In addition to the changes to the track and the tire compound teams will also have to contend with smaller fuel cells as mandated by NASCAR. Teams are required to use a 13-gallon fuel cell as opposed to the typical 22-gallon fuel cells used at the down force tracks. As a result, pit strategy will most likely become a factor during this weekend’s 400-mile race.

• Quoting Snickers Driver Ricky Rudd:

What are your feelings heading into Las Vegas this weekend?

“During our test session in Vegas we were really good on the speed charts with the qualifying trim and the race trim. We did a lot of long runs during the two days and we felt like we were ready. We got back to the shop and felt very confident and prepared. Now it’s a big question as to what to expect for this weekend. Everything is going to depend on how drastic the tire compound change is as to how that’s going to change a car’s handling.”

“I like the track at Las Vegas. It’s a great race track. The new banking makes it a lot better and I think it’s going to make for a better race overall. It used to be a fast, flat track, and now with the added banking, I think it has similar conditions as before but it just got a little faster. It will be interested to see how everyone sets up their cars this week with all the changes but I’m sure it’ll be exciting.”

What were your thoughts on the Car of Tomorrow test at Bristol last week?

“We’re probably 80 percent of where we need to be. We know we still have some work to do but we feel like we’re close and we at least have a direction now. We’ve kind of isolated the areas where we need to improve but we should be better when we get back to Bristol towards the end of the month.”

• Rudd’s Career Record at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

DATE RACE ST FN STATUS EARNINGS

3/1/98 Las Vegas 400 19 12 Running $77,200

3/7/99 Las Vegas 400 34 43 Engine $51,975

3/5/00 CarsDirect.com 400 1 12 Running $83,975

3/4/01 UAW-DiamlerChrysler 400 25 19 Running $93,372

3/3/02 UAW-DiamlerChrysler 400 27 13 Running $112,092

3/2/03 UAW-DiamlerChrysler 400 38 19 Running $94,050

3/7/04 UAW-DiamlerChrysler 400 33 28 Running $92,306

3/13/05 UAW-DiamlerChrysler 400 20 17 Running $111,556

Starts Wins Pole Top 5 Top 10 Earnings

Totals: 8 0 1 0 0 $708,209

• NOTES OF INTEREST:

· Ricky Rudd has competed in eight of the nine NASCAR Nextel Cup Series events that have taken place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway since the series started racing there in 1998. Rudd finished 12th in the track’s inaugural race in 1998.

· Rudd’s best finishes at Las Vegas is a pair of 12th-place finishes he scored. He finished 12th in 1998 while driving the #10 Ford. He finished 12th again during the track’s race in 2000 while driving the #28 Texaco Havoline Ford.

· Rudd’s best start at Las Vegas to date is when he won the pole position for the event in 2000.

· There are ten tracks on the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series schedule at which Rudd has yet to win a race. Las Vegas Motor Speedway is one of those ten tracks.

· Las Vegas is the only track on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series schedule in which Rudd has yet to score a top-10 finish.

• 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 69

Chassis 69 is the car that the #88 Snickers team will race this weekend in Las Vegas. The car’s nickname is “Maverick” and is actually the same chassis the team used for the Auto Club 500 in California this past February. It was run many times (9 or 10) in the 2006 season and is also the car that all the Research and Development was run on. The car itself has been entirely rebuilt for the 2007 season.