RICKY RUDD SET TO TIE "IRON MAN" RECORD IN RICHMOND

    RICHMOND, Va. - NASCAR has seen a lot of changes since the running of the 
first race of the 1981 season at Riverside International Raceway. Drivers 
have come and gone, new champions have been crowned and the sport has grown 
by leaps and bounds. But there has been one consistency since that day; Ricky 
Rudd has been in the starting lineup of every event. 
    The NASCAR Winston Cup veteran is set to tie one of the biggest and most 
prestigious records in all of motorsports this weekend at Richmond 
International Raceway, when Rudd will become NASCAR's newest "Iron Man." The 
Pontiac Excitement 400, coming at the track Rudd collected his most recent 
victory in September of last year, will mark the 655th-consecutive race the 
driver of the No. 28 Havoline Ford Taurus will start. 
    "I'm very proud of this record," Rudd said. "To me, it says that I've 
worked hard and have been determined to do what I'm hired to do each week. 
Hopefully that says something good about me personally. I love racing and am 
very proud to be known for such a long run of consecutive races." 
    When Rudd makes the start at Richmond, he will tie Terry Labonte's 
previous record. Labonte ran 655 consecutive races from 1979 through 2000. 
Rudd will then own the record outright when he and the Robert Yates Racing 
team head to Lowe's (Charlotte) Motor Speedway for the annual Coca-Coal 600 
on May 26. 
    "The Richmond and Charlotte areas are very special places to me," Rudd 
said. "I've lived in either the Chesapeake, VA. or the Charlotte area all my 
life, so these are my two home tracks. I really couldn't think of any better 
places for me to earn this accomplishment."                 
    Rudd made his first career Winston Cup start in 1975 and has amassed 741 
total starts, ranking fourth all time behind NASCAR legends Richard Petty 
(1,177), Dave Marcis (882) and Darrell Waltrip (809). 
    In the span of those 655 races since the streak started, Rudd has won 22 
events, ranking him 19th on the all-time Winston Cup victories list. He has 
also racked up 176 top-five finishes and earned 27 pole positions. 
Impressively, since 1981, Rudd has an average finish of 15th and a starting 
position of 13th. 
    "This record and my 16-season consecutive win record are very important 
to me," Rudd said. "My fans were able to brag for years that we would get a 
win and they also knew that we would be there working hard to be present on 
race day. I have a lot of pride in these two records." 
    Rudd has racked up the miles during his streak, completing 192,873 laps, 
which translates into 234,866 miles run. That would require 78 Havoline Oil 
3,000-mile changes and would fall just 4,000 miles short of reaching the moon 
from Earth. That many miles is also equal to 93,946 laps around Daytona 
International Speedway and 469,732 laps around Bristol Motor Speedway.