RUDD AND #88 COMBOS FORD FINISH 27th AT MARTINSVILLE

MARTINSVILLE, VA (October 21, 2007) – Ricky Rudd and the #88 Combos® Ford finished 27th Sunday afternoon in the Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Martinsville Speedway is one of the short-tracks on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series circuit and is a track known for action-packed racing and tight turns where drivers’ tempers and car temperatures can rise. Sunday’s Subway 500 proved to be a challenging afternoon for the Combos Racing team after a late-race collision cost Rudd and the team valuable track position.

The Subway 500 began at 1:48pm as pole-sitter Jeff Gordon led the field to the green flag and continued to lead the field for the first 108 laps of the race before losing the lead to Jimmie Johnson. Rudd began the race from the 23rd starting position on row 12 alongside the #17 of Matt Kenseth. During the opening laps of the Subway 500, Rudd and the Combos Ford got shuffled back to 26th. The first caution of the race came on lap 45 after Robby Gordon hit the wall in Turn 3. During the caution laps, Rudd called in over team radio communications to crew chief, Cully Barraclough that the Combos Ford felt as though it were “skating” around the turns ever so slightly. Barraclough decided to make a minor air pressure change and the #88 Combos Ford made a pit stop on lap 46 and took four fresh tires and fuel.

By lap 68, Rudd called in to Barraclough and stated that the #88 felt a lot better than it had during the opening green flag run. Rudd had driven his way back up into 23rd as Gilliland was fighting his way up through the field as well. During lap 81, Gilliland was tapped from behind by Dale Jarrett which caused both cars to spin out as they entered Turn 2. Gilliland held on to the #38 M&M’S® Ford and prevented any major damage to the car, but the spin dropped Gilliland a lap down to the race leaders.

Rudd and the Combos Ford continued to avoid collisions as the laps ticked by and the #88 continued to hover around the 24th position on the leader board. Barraclough and the Combos Racing team made various adjustments to air pressure settings as well as the track bar level in the #88 during pit stops after Rudd continued to note the car’s difficulty with handling in the turns. Pit strategy paid off for the team following the eleventh caution of the day during lap 296 when the majority of the field came to pit road. Barraclough made the decision to stay out to gain back track position and the decision paid off as Rudd restarted ninth on lap 301.

The Combos Ford eventually dropped down to 17th by lap 349 following a four tire pit stop on lap 344. Rudd spent the next 100 laps in the 17th and 18th positions and was quickly gaining time on his laps. After the 15th caution of the Subway 500 where Martin Truex, Jr. and Casey Mears collided in Turn 3, Rudd restarted in 15th and was poised to make a run at the top-ten. During the battle for position, Rudd was knocked from behind by Kasey Kahne which caused the #88 to spin out coming off Turn 2. The Combos Ford had damage to the left side of the car and a cut tire on the left front.

Rudd maneuvered the Combos Ford to pit road where the crew changed the left-side tires and examined the damage to the left-hand side of the car. Water temperature levels for the engine became a concern around lap 465 during a caution, so Barraclough called for water to be pumped into the engine during a pit stop on lap 469. In the end, Rudd held on to his damaged car to finish 27th for the day.

“We just had a tough end to our afternoon,” commented Rudd following the race. “I really thought we were going to finish somewhere in between 15th and 17th today since that’s where we spent a majority of the race. The unfortunate thing is that we got bumped late in the race and that caused the Combos Ford to spin out and smack the wall. We had some damage on the left side and blew our left front tire. We lost some laps while we were checking out the damage to the car and it was just a tough way to finish our weekend in Martinsville. We fought hard to stay out of trouble all day long, but it eventually caught up with us towards the end of the day”.

Jimmie Johnson won Sunday’s Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway under a checkered and yellow flag combination and held off Ryan Newman for the win. Sunday’s victory marked Johnson’s 30th career win in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series and seventh win of the 2007 season. Ryan Newman finished seconds after he was unable to catch Johnson in the final laps. Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon completed the afternoon in third and fourth place respectively while Matt Kenseth was the highest-finishing Ford in fifth place. Gilliland and the #38 M&M’s Ford walked away from the Subway 500 with a 25th-place finish while Rudd followed his teammate and finished 27th for the day.

Following Sunday’s Subway 500, the sixth race of The Chase for the NEXTEL Cup, Jeff Gordon continues to lead the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver point standings over fellow Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jimmie Johnson. Johnson’s win Sunday afternoon placed him only 53 points behind Gordon in the driver point standings. The top-five positions in The Chase for the NEXTEL Cup standings remain unchanged. Clint Bowyer held on to third place and trails Gordon by 115 points. Tony Stewart is fourth in the standings while Carl Edwards rounds out the top-five drivers. Rudd remains 33rd in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver point standings, while Gilliland gained one position and is 28th following the Subway 500.

Next weekend the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series travels to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Pep Boys Auto 500 and the seventh race of The Chase for the NEXTEL Cup. Pre-race television coverage begins on Sunday, October 28th at 1:00 p.m. EST on ABC. Radio coverage will be provided by the Performance Racing Network (PRN).