DATE: May 3, 2003

Even with a less than stellar qualifying effort for the Pontiac Excitement 400, Ricky Rudd and his #21 Motorcraft Ford Taurus Racing team were really looking forward to Saturday night’s event at Richmond International Raceway. Everyone hoped for a good finish at a track where Ricky has excelled in the past and Wood Brothers Racing has a history of good performances.

And with just over 20 of the scheduled laps remaining in the race things were looking very positive. However, the team’s and driver’s hopes were dashed on lap 379 when Ricky’s Ford spun into the wall. The previous lap he had crossed the line in eighth place and had run as high as fourth. The car sustained such severe damage that it had to be transported back to the garage on a wrecker, and Ricky was forced to make a mandatory trip to the infield care center.

As he headed back to the garage, Ricky told the media, “I think someone got in the back end of me, I’m not really sure. We were trying to hold everybody off. It’s pretty slippery out there when you get a re-start, drive a few laps, get a caution, you re-start again. So, I’m not really sure. Somebody got in the back of me. It’s just unfortunate. The Motorcraft/Air Force Ford was running good tonight, we were going to come out of it with a good top 10, but it wasn’t meant to be, I guess.”

Rain and accidents had slowed the race 13 times prior to lap 379, and the red flag was displayed for a 15th caution that flew shortly after the restart following Ricky’s accident. When rain began to fall once again NASCAR called an end to the race with 393 circuits of the 400 completed.

Ricky was listed 34th on the results sheet as Joe Nemechek was announced the winner of the rain-shortened event.

Ricky Rudd had gone out seventh in the heat of the day Friday afternoon to qualify. As the day continued and cooled, speeds on Richmond International Raceway went up, and Ricky fell victim to the “luck of the draw”.

After completed his run for starting position he answer questions from the media on pit road. HOW WAS YOUR LAP? “I’m a little bit disappointed with it. We’re a little bit better than that. We ran quite a bit better in practice. It’s something about this race track when it sat. We were one of the early cars and we knew that an early draw probably wouldn’t be the way to go, but there’s not a whole lot you can do about it. I’m happy with longer run stuff. We were pretty fast the other day when we tested. Hopefully that will put us in the top 15.”

IS COMING FROM THE BACK HERE LESS OF A PROBLEM THAN SOME OTHER TRACKS? “This race track is a good example that if a race track is built well we can run side by side. The sealer was on the race track this time last year and the racing wasn’t quite the racing that we’ve seen at Richmond in the past. But, we came back in the fall and it was side-by-side racing. The second groove, I don’t see a reason why it won’t come in. Maybe it will come in quicker because the bottom is a little rough, so we’ll see what happens. It will be two grooves of racing and hopefully being 15th or 20th won’t be a big deal.”

Ricky’s hopes for a top-15 start proved to be optimistic. He started 27th Saturday night.

Matt Kenseth retained his lead in the Winston Cup points and Ricky is now 22nd. The Winston Cup teams have their second of three off weekends this coming week for the celebration of Mother’s Day. They return to racing at Lowe’s Motor Speedway the following week. The Winston, a non-points race for winners is scheduled to run at the 1.5 mile North Carolina track on Saturday, May 17. It will be televised live on live on FX at 7 p.m. and broadcast on the Performance Racing Network of radio affiliates.

The top 10 finishers at Richmond were: 1. Joe Nemechek 2. Bobby Labonte 3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 4. Robby Gordon 5. Mark Martin 6. Kevin Harvick 7. Matt Kenseth 8. Kurt Busch 9. Jeff Burton 10. Rusty Wallace 34. Ricky Rudd

Current to 10 in points: 1. Matt Kenseth 1619 2. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. 1599 3. Kurt Busch 1452 4. Jeff Gordon 1438 5. Bobby Labonte 1376 6. Jimmie Johnson 1372 7. Michael Waltrip 1361 8. Kevin Harvick 1328 9. Rusty Wallace 1274 10. Sterling Marlin 1259 22. Ricky Rudd 1099