NASCAR WCUP: NAPA 500 Post Race Notes and Quotes, Ricky Rudd
22 November 1999
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
RICKY RUDD --10-- Tide Taurus (Finished 7th) -- "We had a really strong finish at the end of the season and no regrets. We struggled, we gave 120 percent, built a lot of new cars. I wish we hadn't spent so much money at the end of the season, but, hopefully, maybe we'll get some of it back at the auction that's coming up on December 1 and 2."
MAYBE NEXT YEAR YOU WILL RUN FOR A TITLE? "I think everything is in place. We've got that chemistry with (Michael) Fatback McSwain and that's clicking really good. We're taking our shop foreman with us, we're taking about seven or eight guys with us and kind of making an all-star team on the 28. Robert hasn't gotten rid of any of his people, so that's gonna be a strength on that 28 team. And then build some cars like the 88 because right now the 28 and the 88, I've gotta hand it to Dale Jarrett because he won this championship really as a single car team this year. The 28 cars were so much different than the 88 car that they couldn't bounce ideas off each other, so my car is set up a lot like Dale's was today, I mean basically the same type of car, so I think it's gonna strengthen the 88. I couldn't be happier about having the champion as a partner next year."
IS IT KIND OF A BITTERSWEET DAY TODAY? "To be honest with you, I'm just glad it's kind of over with. Operating on three hours of sleep a night for the last couple of months while trying to get our stuff together for the auction that's coming up and trying to get things in tune for next year and shutting down three businesses, I'm just glad it's over. I wished it would have ended on a winning note, but we went down trying and trying awful hard. We didn't quite come up with a victory this year, we got two or three third-place finishes, but I'm real proud of the way the season finished."
YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO TRY TO BLOW ALL OF YOUR BUDGET AT THE END OF THE SEASON, DID IT WORK? "We put a pretty good dent in it. As a matter of fact we're looking forward to that auction to try and get some of it back to pay some bills."
YOU'VE GOT A LOT TO LOOK FORWARD TO NEXT YEAR. "Obviously, we would have liked to have gone out with a win this year, but we really didn't get going until after the midway point in the season. Michael "Fatback" McSwain came on board as crew chief and, in all fairness to him, he didn't have a really good chance on it. We built a lot of new cars late in the season and this is what we're running here now. Had we started the season like we ended the season I feel like we'd probably be sitting here with a victory, but I'm looking forward to great things at Robert Yates Racing. I couldn't be happier to be teamed up in that Texaco Havoline car with Dale Jarrett as a teammate and I think we can help both teams next year."
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO HAVE POWER LIKE THAT UNDER THE HOOD? "I've heard the old adage that there's no substitute for horsepower and that's true. Obviously, that's not gonna win you races by itself, but you can sure lay it to rest that if you go out there and you're not running good it's not because you have a lack of power under the hood. It's because you're not handling good or you don't have the body on there just right."
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