Ricky Rudd
Ricky Rudd
Richard L. "Ricky" Rudd, nicknamed "The Rooster", is an American former racing driver. He is the uncle of actor Skeet Ulrich and former NASCAR Busch Series driver Jason Rudd. He retired in 2007 with 23 career wins. He was named the 2006 Virginian of the Year and was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. In October 2010, he was selected to the Hampton Roads Sports Hall of Fame, which honors those who have contributed to sports...
based coming good helping plans respect retirement sons spend time
They're as good as they've ever been. They're still competitive. Their retirement plans are based on their sons coming up. They want to spend time helping their careers, and I have a lot of respect for them.
beyond built cars control far favorite past purposely quality race run saying seem stuff track trying types unless whether
Nowadays, as they've been working on the cars and the quality control is getting a lot better, there's not a really a big difference. The cars are built specifically for different types of race tracks, whether it's a high-travel track or low-travel track, and that's what they go by. They go by data. It's past me, way beyond me now. But as far as me saying I've got a favorite car, they're getting stuff more consistent. I don't really see that anymore. They all seem to run about the same - unless they're purposely trying to make one differently, which they can do very easily.
bottom faster five guys line
The bottom line is five guys can go faster than 40.
cleaner conditions pack running smaller staying tendency
A smaller pack that's staying in line, you have a tendency to have cleaner air, more like conditions are when you're running by yourself,
decide drive great
If I were to decide never to drive again, I have had a great career,
extra forehead helmet skin took
I just kind of took all the extra skin and taped it to my eyelid and taped it up to my forehead and put my helmet on and went on.
brothers contract nearly perfect race seemed sick step taken time vacation wood
I have not taken a vacation or sick day in nearly 30 years of racing, and with my contract with the Wood Brothers expiring at the end of this race season, it seemed like the perfect time to step back and take a break.
brothers enjoy great racing wood
I really enjoy racing for the Wood Brothers - they are great people,
advantage allow few guys percent race rules run setup sort spent structure surprised time took within yesterday
I'm really sort of surprised at this run because we spent 98 percent of our time yesterday working on race setup and I got really comfortable with what I had there, ... Within the rules structure they allow you to do a few things for qualifying and the guys took advantage of that.
clean good lucky nose spot track tried worked
It's usually been a good track for us, and we were lucky we got a good qualifying spot (starting fifth) and just tried to keep our nose clean all night. It worked out pretty good.
drive
THEY LOOK THE SAME, BUT THEY DON'T DRIVE THE SAME.
almost car change ready sort
It's almost been sort of an uneventful day. We didn't have to change a whole lot of stuff. The car was ready off the truck.
car drove extremely since time track
The car drove extremely well and the track has got a lot of grip, ... It's been a long time since I've come to Martinsville and had a car that could go like this one.
closer position sure track trick
...the trick to the whole thing is to make sure that you have track position at the three-quarters mark, not closer to the end.