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June 25,2002 |
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RUDD WILL RETURN NEXT SEASON
INSIDE TODAY'S ISSUE: |
By Greg Engle, A&J Racing,June 25, 2002 
I love to cook. But having not been blessed with a cook’s talent, I rely on my good old dog-eared recipe book. And when I find a recipe that works, I stick to it, because when it works there is no sense in even thinking about trying anything different. That’s an analogy I wanted to use to explain why Ricky Rudd will be back in a Robert Yates Racing Ford next season. When Ricky first gave up ownership of his Tide team and went to work for RYR, the team, although much hyped, didn’t exactly set the NASCAR world on fire. Until this season. Now Rudd has two wins, including this past weekend at Sears Point. He’s on top of the world, thick in the middle of the chase for the Winston Cup Championship. And that’s how Ricky will leave the sport: a Champion. And until that happens, Rudd will continue strapping into a race car every week. “ I knew that the chemistry was there and it worked and it certainly speeded things along," Rudd said Sunday.. "That's the hard part, when you start thinking about retirement. Man, this thing clicks so well. It's a championship-caliber team. You hate to give that up after working for 27 years at a shot at it." One trait that all NASCAR drivers have is a burning desire to be the best, number one, top of the game, a Winston Cup Champion. Something that Rudd has never been able to accomplish. "I've told everybody, I want to sort through this retirement deal," Rudd said. "I want to go to the best place that Ricky Rudd can go and win races, and hopefully try to win a championship. A lot of people feel like that ride with Robert has already been signed by Elliott Sadler, and that's not an option for me.” _____________________________________ _____________________________________ “I don't know if the option of coming back with Robert Yates is there," Rudd said. "I truly don't know that. It's a little difficult because I really don't know what is going on there. I don't hold the cards there; Robert holds the cards. He purposely can talk in a circle better than anybody I've ever seen, so I'm not getting any answers out of him. I don't know if that seat is available or not."And right now Robert Yates is having a ball knowing that the entire Winston Cup “silly season” hinges on what happens with his team, he’s loving the attention, but is entirely too smart to think for one instant that he would break up a championship caliber team. I’ve been told by a source close to the team that Elliot Sadler has not, nor will not be signed by Yate.And that makes perfect sense, why spoil the recipe? Rudd has said that the official announcement will come during this off week. Expect that announcement to be that Ricky Rudd will continue to pilot the number 28 Ford, in the 2003 season.
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--PETREE TO FIELD 2ND ENTRY AT DAYTONA --'MEN IN BLACK' PAINT FOR KYLE --IN-CAR VIEWS PAYING OFF? --KEN SCHRADER TO PETTY? --NEW CUP TEAM PLANNED --ARCHITECT SUES KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY --SHEPHERD TO HANDLE WOOD TEST --NASCAR TO TEAM WITH BRITNEY Marlin fell victim to stray stone in motor
Sterling Marlin's broken motor Sunday was, like many at Sears Point (now Infineon Raceway) over the years, caused by an errant rock kicked up by another car.
FULL STORY
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Sterling takes his medicine
It still looks as if Kevin Harvick is going to have a hard time winning the Winston Cup championship this year. Harvick is 937 points out of first place, although he did pick up 87 on Sterling Marlin with his 14th-place finish in Sunday’s Dodge/Save Mart 350. Poor Sterling. Rodney Dangerfield, Al Gore and Bart Simpson also gained ground on him at Infineon Raceway. The top 10 had been separated by 339 points until Sunday. Now they are separated by 226. The top five had been separated by 190; now they are separated by 88.
Even before Marlin’s Dodge began coughing and smoking on the 13th of 110 laps, the edge had been deceptively tenuous. He had finished in the top five only twice in his previous 10 races, yet somehow he had remained on top. |
Sonoma's wild weekend leaves Cup up for grabs LapByLap June 25, 2002
Ricky Rudd's victory, Jerry Nadeau's heartbreak, Robby Gordon's "no-show" and broken parts on the Winston Cup tour's top cars. All that happened here Sunday and showed that when NASCAR drivers come to the difficult road course here, expect the unexpected, and never close your eyes. For much of the nearly three-hour Dodge Save Mart 350, the action on the track was single-file, follow-the-leader, not atypical of road racing but certainly not the best of what these drivers can do, or are supposed to do. There was little of last year's bumper-to-bumper drama, although runner-up Tony Stewart was a bit miffed at the rubbing Rudd dished out late in the afternoon. That might have been one reason Stewart made a rare post-race appearance for the media, to make his complaint about blocking. _____________________________________ _____________________________________ And the finish boiled down to pit-stop strategy, with fuel mileage the key, at least until Bill Elliott ran off the course while leading, and then when Nadeau lost his rear end with three laps to go and victory just out of his grasp."God doesn't seem like he's giving me anything too easy," Nadeau said, obviously hurt by the loss. "This builds a lot of humbleness. We had the car to win. We had a big lead (well over six seconds at one point), and I don't think Ricky could have caught me. But then with two laps to go, (we) broke the gear. "I've had a lot of bad luck. But I'm not going to look back at that. I have to say this was a great race, we led some laps and we had a lot of fun." FULL STORY Motorsport.com,June 25, 2002 
Imagine your entire life wanting nothing more than to be a racecar driver. After all of the hard work and determination, you finally make it to the pinnacle of your sport, Winston Cup. Your next goal? Obviously, to win races. Enter the story of Jerry Nadeau. After driving for various teams at the beginning of his career, Nadeau landed a spot in the No. 25 Chevy of Hendrick Motorsports in 2000. His first year was rough, but all in all, a pretty good one. He scored his first career victory at the season ending event at Atlanta. _____________________________________ Marlin still leads, but points race tightening _____________________________________ 2001 was a mediocre season for the Danbury, Conn. native. Nadeau had four top-fives and 10 top-10 finishes. He finished 17th in points.Nadeau's first letdown of the season came at the inaugural Chicagoland event. Leading a large part of the day, Nadeau became sick after battling food poisoning... |
Guest Columnist's From Team Racin.com -- LOOKING FOR MR. GOODWRENCH: THE SEQUEL Pammy -- - No Win For Daddy Evelyn Adams --The Rumor Mill Keeps Goin and Goin And Goin Don Smith -- Rankings for Sears Point Tim Haddox -- Should we keep road courses? Ann Stacy -- Race Fans Want to Know: NASCAR, how BAD can you get? Valerie Wood
For Sacks, new team is nearly in the bag
Greg Sacks wants to get back into the Winston Cup game and he's using a game to get him there. Huh? Sacks, who has been out of the NASCAR loop for several years since suffering serious injuries in a crash at Texas Motor Speedway, is methodically putting the pieces together to own a team in 2003. "The bottom line is we're developing this program to run a full Winston Cup schedule in 2003," said Sacks, who lives in Port Orange. Sacks isn't doing this alone. He has a partner in this adventure. Loren Fossie is an entrepreneur who lives in New Jersey. Fossie has developed a board game called "FRANCHI$IT" which Sacks said is the "Monopoly of the new millennium." "It's a board game that captures consumers' entrepreneurial spirit with real-life stakes," Fossie said. |
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Close, but no checkered flag for Petty Enterprises Sportsnet June 25, 2002
Petty Enterprises dominated Sunday’s Dodge/SaveMart 350 at the 1.99-mile Infineon Raceway, in Sonoma, CA. John Andretti and the No.43 Dodge team, and teammate Jerry Nadeau and the No.44 Dodge team combined to lead 35 of the total 110 laps, all in the second-half of the race. Andretti had a fluke accident on pit road during the last caution when he came in leading, but was able to rebound to grab 10th place.
Nadeau first took the lead on lap 88 of the 110-lap race and held over a five- second advantage before breaking the rear-end gear with just two laps to go. Nadeau’s substitute performance for driver Steve Grissom was overall the best for any road course "specialist", as he was easily on his was to Victory Lane before the gear failed. Nadeau finished 34th. FULL STORY
Stewart Takes Title Step Tony Stewart wasn’t victorious Sunday’s Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway, but he was indeed a big winner. By finishing runner-up to Ricky Rudd, the driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Pontiac took advantage of Sterling Marlin’s misfortune in a big way. He gained a whopping 141 points on Marlin Sunday and moved into fifth place in the standings, just 88 points behind Marlin. In fact, Stewart is only 26 points behind second place Mark Martin with 17 of 36 races in the books. Ever since he arrived on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series scene 3 ½ years ago, Stewart has been touted as a championship contender. In years past he’s fallen way behind early on only to make a strong run at the end of the season, and while he did that in 2002 as well, Stewart has rebounded to put himself in prime contention heading into the second half of the campaign. |
Winston Cup driver Kyle Petty is gearing up for a big week on the road. But instead of piloting his #45 Sprint Dodge, Petty will be on a Victory motorcycle leading a pack of 250 riders cross-country for the Sprint/Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America.
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STORIES ELSEWHERE
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-- Lack of sponsorship cash means Donleavy may be done
CNNSI.com -- ASA driver Councilor killed in crash ESPN.com -- Childress hopes to reverse woeful showing LapByLap -- Wood Brothers' heritage runs deep at two-mile track Monte Dutton,Gaston Gazzette |
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NOTES FROM THE TRACK AND AROUND THE WEB:
LAST RACE Dodge/Save Mart 350 | Infineon Raceway Winner:Ricky Rudd Average Speed: 81.007 mph Time of Race: 2 hours, 42 minutes, 8 seconds Margin of Victory: 2.487 Cautions: 3 for 9 laps Lead Changes: 10 among 9 drivers Race Results Dodge/Save Mart 350 Unofficial Race Results Sirius Satellite Radio 400 Pocono 500 results MBNA Platinum 400 Results Coca-Cola Racing Family 600 Results |
(After Sonoma 16 of 36)
Rank/Movement since last race/Driver/ Behind |
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NEXT: Time: 7:30 p.m. (Eastern) TV: 7:30 p.m. (EDT) NBC Radio: MRN NASCAR ON TV THIS WEEKEND CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES GNC LIVE WELL 200 2:30 p.m. (EDT) Saturday ESPN BUSCH SERIES GNC LIVE WELL 250 1:30 p.m. (EDT) Sunday FX Next Winston Cup race July 6 Times and stations are subject to change |
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Opinion/My Word
Owner Kyle Petty and the No.45 Dodge team had a consistent effort and finished 17th, another top-20 finish for the team. It was Petty’s eighth finish in the last nine races of 20th or higher.
