RUDD EARNS TOP-20 FINISH AT ATLANTA

HAMPTON, GA (October 28, 2007) – Ricky Rudd and the #88 Snickers® Halloween Ford Fusion finished 17th Sunday afternoon in the Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Atlanta Motor Speedway is a 1.5-mile speedway that is synonymous with speed and Sunday’s Pep Boys Auto 500 was not an exception as the race provided high-speed thrills right up until the last lap. Rudd and the #88 Snickers Racing team celebrated the upcoming Halloween holiday with a special Snickers Halloween paint scheme.

The Pep Boys Auto 500 began at 2:18pm as pole-sitter Greg Biffle led the field to the green flag but lost the lead on the first lap to Kurt Busch. Rudd started the Pep Boys Auto 500 from the 38th position while his teammate, David Gilliland and the #38 M&M’S® Halloween Ford Fusion, began from the 13th starting spot. Rudd jumped up to 33rd on the opening lap while Gilliland also drove is way into eighth. Gilliland found the speed to gain two more positions and found himself in sixth place by the fifth lap of the race. Kurt Busch continued to lead the field as Rudd attempted to hold on to his position in 33rd.

On lap 15, Rudd called in to Crew Chief Cully Barraclough over team radio communications that the Snickers Halloween Ford was tight and was encountering issues in the turns which made the car sail up into the middle of turns three and four. By lap 22 however, Rudd noted that the car was starting to come around and settle into the track during longer green flag runs. Lap 35 saw the afternoon’s first caution of the day for debris after the #42 of Juan Pablo Montoya blew a right-front tire. Rudd was in 28th at the time and had been running lap times that equaled those of the race leaders. Barraclough and the Snickers Racing team decided to take four fresh tires and fuel while they also added a rubber to the right-rear tire in an effort to ease the handling in the turns.

Following the second caution of the day, Rudd restarted on lap 44 in 26th while Gilliland held on to tenth. Around lap 58, Rudd called in over team radio to Barraclough that the Snickers Halloween Ford gave a lot of resistance at the beginning of the runs which caused Rudd to lose positions at the restarts following every caution. Gilliland remained battling for track position up near the front of the field in 13th with his M&M’S Halloween Ford. On lap 64, Gilliland was maneuvering around lapped cars when the #38 M&M’S Halloween Ford Fusion got loose, spun into the wall, and collected Mark Martin. The violent crash brought out the red flag as NASCAR and track operations members cleaned up the track surface. Gilliland’s afternoon came to an early end as the damaged car could not be repaired after the M&M’S racing team assessed the damage.

Rudd restarted in 25th following the red-flagged stop, but by lap 77, the Snickers Halloween Ford had fallen to 29th as Rudd called in over radio communications that the car was still too loose. During a pit stop under caution on lap 101, the pit crew made air pressure adjustments to the left-rear tire and removed a rubber in the right-rear along with taking four new Goodyear tires and Sunoco fuel.

The #88 Snickers Halloween Ford remained around the 30th position for the majority of the afternoon as Barraclough and the Snickers pit crew continued to make adjustments to the air pressure settings as well as the rubbers in the rear-tires. Despite the adjustments, Rudd fell one lap down to the leaders but gained his lap back on lap 268 following a caution in which Rudd was the “lucky dog” which meant he was the first car on the scoreboard who was one lap down when the caution came out.

Luck began to play out in favor of Rudd for the remainder of the race as he started to gain lap times on the field. By lap 285 Rudd was in 26th and poised to make a run for positions. Lap 299 found the #88 Snickers Halloween Ford in 23rd and by lap 305 Rudd was in 22nd. With a scheduled 20 laps remaining in the race, teams began to focus on fuel mileage and pit strategy as many teams only had enough fuel to make it to the end of the race without any further cautions.

On lap 318, the yellow caution flag emerged after Johnny Sauter had a blown tire and spilled debris on the track. With the caution flag in the air, the most important question arose as teams had to decide is they made a pit stop for fuel, or if they were confident enough to make it to the end of the race. The entire front of the field decided to pit for fuel except for the #11 of Denny Hamlin who stayed out on the track to gain track position.

During the restart however, Hamlin ran out of fuel and his #11 stalled out and caused the #1 of Martin Truex, Jr. to slam into the back of the #11. The crash collected Kyle Busch who had been leading the race prior to the caution. Jimmie Johnson escaped the wreckage to gain the lead and began the green-white-checkered finish on lap 327. Caution #14 came on lap 328 as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. lost a tire and crashed into the wall collecting Jamie McMurray. The wreck ended the race under caution and Johnson was awarded the victory while Rudd finished 17th.

“We were just loose all afternoon,” commented Rudd following the race. “Our Snickers Halloween Ford was having issues every time that we had to restart where it seemed like we just couldn’t get any front grip. It really cost us track position at the start of the green flag runs but I have to thank our Snickers Racing team because they worked all afternoon to make adjustments to help get us up through the field. This was a brand new car that we brought to Atlanta this weekend and we really didn’t know what to expect when we unloaded off the truck. It was a little different experience for me this weekend, but I think we’ve learned a bunch of things that we can take back to the shop and use for the remaining races.”

Jimmie Johnson won Sunday’s Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway which marked his 31st career win in 216 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series starts. Johnson also claimed his third series of sweeps for the 2007 season after he won both races at Richmond, Martinsville, and Atlanta. Carl Edwards came in second Sunday as he posted his sixth top-ten finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway in seven career starts. Reed Sorenson battled his way through the field to finish third in the Pep Boys Auto 500 after he started the race from 32nd. Matt Kenseth and Jeff Burton finished fourth and fifth for the afternoon and rounded out the top-five finishers in the Pep Boys Auto 500. Rudd and the #88 Snickers Halloween Ford Fusion finished 17th while Gilliland and his #38 M&M’S Halloween Ford Fusion finished 42nd at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Following Sunday’s Pep Boys Auto 500, the seventh race of The Chase for the NEXTEL Cup, Jeff Gordon continues his lead in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver point standings over fellow Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jimmie Johnson. Johnson’s victory on Sunday decreased Gordon’s lead to a mere nine points, cutting into the 53 points that separated them going into the weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Clint Bowyer remains unchanged in the standings in third and Carl Edwards moved up one position to fourth while Tony Stewart fell one spot to fifth. Rudd remains 33rd in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver point standings, while Gilliland holds on to his 29th position following the Pep Boys Auto 500.

Next weekend the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series travels to Texas Motor Speedway for the Dickies 500 and the eighth race of The Chase for the NEXTEL Cup. Pre-race television coverage begins on Sunday, November 4th at 3:00 p.m. EST on ABC. Radio coverage will be provided by the Performance Racing Network (PRN).