NASCAR WCUP: Post Race Notes and Quotes, Pepsi 400, Ricky Rudd
2 July 2000
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
RICKY RUDD --28-- Texaco Havoline Taurus -- COULD YOU
PASS WITH THE NEW PLATE? "I think we could have passed, but our front end
was so tight coming off one and two that we had to crack the throttle and
with that smaller plate it just wouldn't pull back up. Not everybody was
tight, it seemed we were about the only one shoving the front end. I'm not
really sure why, but that really killed our chances. The Texaco Havoline
team did a great job to come back and finish 10th." STILL A GOOD NIGHT? "Oh yeah, another top five. I get through these difficult tracks like Daytona and Talladega I'm happy."
IT SEEMED YOU WERE ALWAYS TRYING TO HANG ON TO THE DRAFT. "I was lucky to keep up really because I was having to crack the throttle down in one and two. You really shouldn't be able to crack the throttle and still keep up here. I had a bad push. If I didn't crack the throttle then I'd knock the fence down, so finally at the end of the race I didn't crack the throttle and went right up on the fence and that seemed to help us. I don't think anybody else was up there (high on the track). We were up there kind of by ourselves and I think that's the key to saving the front tires because the push would get worse and worse. We're really lucky to be able to get a good run with this Texaco Havoline team."
YOU TRIED TO MAKE SOME HEADWAY AT THE END. "It really played into our hand the way everybody bottle-necked up on the bottom. I needed the high side of the race track. Everybody went down low, they lost their momentum, I sailed around on the outside and never cracked the throttle. I was able to pick up two or three spots by doing that."
Text Provided By Ford
Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos
and art, visit
The Racing
Photo Museum and the
Visions
of Speed Art Gallery.