RUDD FINISHES 21st IN FINAL CUP SERIES CAREER START

HOMESTEAD, FL (November 18, 2007) – Ricky Rudd and the #88 Snickers® Ford Fusion finished 21st Sunday in the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. After 31 seasons in NASCAR’S most elite series, Rudd completed the final NEXTEL Cup Series start of his career Sunday. Known as NASCAR’S “Iron Man” for his record of most consecutive career starts, Rudd made his 906th career start in the Ford 400. Rudd began the race from the 38th starting position on the outside of fellow Ford driver, Greg Biffle. Robert Yates Racing teammate, David Gilliland and the #38 M&M’S Ford Fusion, began from 12th on the starting grid.

The Ford 400 began at 4:04pm EST as pole-sitter Jimmie Johnson led the field to green and only led the opening lap before losing the lead to Ryan Newman. Gilliland and his #38 M&M’S® Ford Fusion moved up one position to eleventh during the opening laps, while Rudd drove his way through the field to 30th in the first 15 laps. Rudd called in over team communications to crew chief Cully Barraclough on lap 22 that the Snickers Ford was a little tight in the center of the turns. Even under the tight conditions, Rudd continued to battle his way through the field and by lap 37, found himself in 24th on the leaderboard.

Rudd and the #88 Snickers Ford jumped up to 23rd by lap 47 as Barraclough called in to Rudd over team radio communications that the first pit stop of the day would come just three laps later. On lap 50, Rudd came down pit road for four fresh tires and Sunoco racing fuel but as Rudd was about to exit pit road, an accident occurred near the entrance to pit road as the #5 and #8 collected each other causing the first caution of the day. Under the yellow flag conditions, Rudd restarted near the rear of the field and was marked a lap down to the leader. The field restarted on lap 58 with Rudd in 29th and Gilliland in 23rd but immediately returned to yellow as the #8 of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. spun on the straightway after contact with Jeff Burton. Rudd received the free pass which meant that he was once again on the lead lap with the race leaders.

Rudd restarted 28th on lap 64 with the determination of gaining back the track position that was lost during the first pit stop and caution combination of the day. Yet after only 13 laps under green, the caution flag returned on lap 78 after Paul Menard spun. Barraclough decided to use the caution as a chance to gain track position by taking only right-side tires and fuel. Unfortunately Rudd was penalized for exiting pit road too fast, so Barraclough called Rudd back to pit road before the restart and put on new left-side tires on lap 81.

Lap 82 found Rudd restarting in 25th while Gilliland and the #38 M&M’S Ford restarted in 21st. The teammates spent the next 20 laps reclaiming positions on the leaderboard and by lap 102, Gilliland was in 15th while Rudd was in 20th. The sun had began to set behind the grandstands at Homestead-Miami Speedway which meant that track conditions were starting to change as the track surface temperature began to drop. Rudd called in to Barraclough over team communications that the Snickers Ford was starting to get loose coming off the turns as temperatures began to fall with the setting sun.

Green flag pit stops began on lap 127 and the Snickers Racing team decided to pit on lap 133 as the team took fuel and four new Goodyear tires with air pressure adjustments to counteract the changing track conditions. The fourth caution of the day occurred 17 laps later and Rudd brought the Snickers Ford onto pit road for four tires and fuel, but shortly after the restart, Rudd called in to Barraclough over radio communications that there was a bad vibration on the front right of the car. Rudd and the team feared a tire was going flat. Luck smiled upon Rudd and the #88 Snickers Ford as the fifth caution of the day came on lap 160 after an accident occurred on lap 159. This caution meant the team had the opportunity to change the tires without losing valuable track position if they would have had to pit under green flag race conditions.

Bad luck stuck Gilliland and the M&M’S Racing team on lap 168 as the #42 of Juan Pablo Montoya tapped Gilliland from behind and sent the #38 M&M’S Ford into the wall. Gilliland held on as his car ran along the wall and caused considerable damage to the right side. Unfortunately the damage was enough to hinder the rest of Gilliland’s evening at Homestead as he and the M&M’S Racing team repaired the car enough to battle back and finish 32nd.

Rudd and the Snickers Racing team spent the remainder of the race fighting their way through the field in an effort to gain track position they had lost early on in the day. Minor handling issues continued to plague the team for the rest of the race, but Rudd was able to finish the evening in 21st.

“It’s been 32 great years, but I’m ready to sit in the rocking chair and enjoy retirement for awhile,” commented Rudd following race. “I know that I’m going to miss the people I’ve met over the years. Retirement is going to take some getting used to since the track is where all my friends are, but I’m excited to see what the next chapter in my life holds. It hasn’t hit me yet that tonight is the last time that I’ll be in a race car. I think the bigger picture is all the people I’ve met in the garage over the years and racing against the best drivers in the world. The young guys, the old guys, I’ve met so many people over the years that I’ve had a lot of respect for, and I’ve had a chance to race with so many legendary drivers. It’s time to hang it up and honestly I don’t have any regrets tonight.”

Matt Kenseth won Sunday’s Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Kenseth’s win Sunday was his first win at Homestead as well as his 16th victory in 292 NEXTEL Cup Series career starts. Kenseth led for 214 of the 267 laps a total of eight times Sunday. Kenseth held of Kurt Busch who finished second while Denny Hamlin brought home a third-place finish. Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards rounded out the top-five finishers with a fourth and fifth-place finish respectively.

Following Sunday’s Ford 400, Jimmie Johnson was crowned the 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Champion for the second consecutive years as he concluded the season with a total of 6,723 points and a 77 point lead over fellow Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon. Johnson and Gordon entered Sunday’s season finale at Homestead with 86 points separating the two drivers who were vying for the championship title. Gordon finished the season second in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver point standings followed by Clint Bowyer in third, and Matt Kenseth in fourth-place. Rudd remained unchanged as he finished the year 33rd in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver point standings, while Gilliland lost one position to finish 28th for the 2007 season.

The Sprint Cup Series will return to action February 9th, 2008 with the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway followed by the 50th running of the Daytona 500 on February 17th, 2008.