Rudd to step out of No. 88 car
Lee Spencer
FOXSports.com, Updated 6 hours ago
BROOKLYN, Mich. - After a season fraught with more struggles than successes, Ricky Rudd will step out of the No. 88 Snickers Ford at the end of the year.
Rudd, who turns 51 next month, will make his 898th start on Sunday. Only the King, Richard Petty has more career starts (1,185). But Rudd told team owner Robert Yates last week on the trip home from Watkins Glen he was not committed to running the full season in 2008.
"Out of fairness to him, I wanted to make sure that they understood that I wasn't bailing out on the team. They're headed in the right direction. The organization is showing improvement.
"The main thing is I'm not leaving this job to go look for another job. I know enough to know that I'm done with full-time Cup racing. And I'm not really looking for a part-time Cup job right now. If something came along that made sense, I'd probably look at it but right now I'm not looking for a full-time job."
Although Rudd went on sabbatical after the 2005 season, he never vowed that stepping out of the No. 21 Ford was a retirement. After all, it's hard to find a racer with as much determination as Rudd has displayed during his 32 seasons behind the wheel. Few drivers in today's NASCAR possess the grit of a driver that would tape his eyelids open in order to compete or endure second degree burns in 1998 to continue his streak of 16 winning seasons.
Rudd has posted 23 wins, 29 poles, 194 top fives and 374 top 10s in 897 career starts. His best finish in 2007 was seventh place at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May.
Rudd says he'd be interested in testing for teams. With his experience on a variety of racetracks it would be easy for Rudd to provide a baseline for teams to build upon.
And like fellow veteran Mark Martin, who has mentored up-and-coming drivers, Rudd would be quite valuable in a similar role. Rudd was able to help teammate David Gilliland get up to speed on tracks where he had limited seat time this season, but sees himself working with drivers that are a bit more green.
"David was a pretty solid driver when he got here," Rudd said. "He wasn't like Paulie Harraka or the kid (Aric Almirola) that Mark has helped that may not have as much life experience when it comes to racing. David did a lot of dirt racing and he worked a lot with his father (Butch) so he knew what to expect when he got here. If I could be an asset to someone, I would take a look at that."
Rudd is fairly adamant that the time commitment surrounding a full-time season just isn't for him at this stage of life. At one time he was approached about sharing the seat with a couple of other veterans but the structure of the program would have to appeal to him. He knows for certain that a team like the No. 88 that is in the growing stages requires a greater obligation from the driver than he's willing to make right now.
"This is a young team that's building and it depends how quickly the engineering is absorbed from the (Carl) Haas input of it or how aggressively they blend it," Rudd said. "Right now this team on engineering is probably at the bottom of the rung. It's growing and it's starting to climb from the bottom with the Newman-Haas influence to the highest. How quickly they blend that engineering program will determine how quickly the performance comes along."
Doug Yates was grateful for Rudd's return. The popular veteran arrived during an era of transition for Robert Yates Racing that included a shift from a family-owned business to a partnership with Paul Newman, Carl Haas and Michael Lanigan.
"Having Ricky this year was really good for the company," Yates said. "At a time when we needed someone to lead and set the stage especially with David coming along, he's been a good mentor to David and really helped us get our program back.
"A lot of things have gone on in the last couple of years with drivers and sponsors and things like that so Ricky has been great. I think our performance is getting better and we've picked the right partners with the engineering and the marketing side of things. So, I think the timing is good."
With Rudd's decision made, he has plenty of time to consider what he wants to do with the rest of his life. During the off-season, Rudd contemplated making a transition into the TV booth, but quickly realized that the season was longer than he imagined.
"I look around the garage and think, 'What job slot would I like out there?'" Rudd said. "People who do this job, there's not a job out there in this sport that doesn't have a major time commitment. There's a lot of away-from-home time.
"This sport has been very good to me. But the sport is changing and I've seen a lot of those changes over the years. I've learned you got to roll with those changes. One of the commitments is that you're not at home hardly at all — and I don't want to miss out on any more of that. I'm looking forward to the next chapter and I really don't know exactly what that is but I think I have a much clearer direction of where I'm going."
Lee Spencer
FOXSports.com, Updated 6 hours ago
BROOKLYN, Mich. - After a season fraught with more struggles than successes, Ricky Rudd will step out of the No. 88 Snickers Ford at the end of the year.
Rudd, who turns 51 next month, will make his 898th start on Sunday. Only the King, Richard Petty has more career starts (1,185). But Rudd told team owner Robert Yates last week on the trip home from Watkins Glen he was not committed to running the full season in 2008.
"Out of fairness to him, I wanted to make sure that they understood that I wasn't bailing out on the team. They're headed in the right direction. The organization is showing improvement.
"The main thing is I'm not leaving this job to go look for another job. I know enough to know that I'm done with full-time Cup racing. And I'm not really looking for a part-time Cup job right now. If something came along that made sense, I'd probably look at it but right now I'm not looking for a full-time job."
Although Rudd went on sabbatical after the 2005 season, he never vowed that stepping out of the No. 21 Ford was a retirement. After all, it's hard to find a racer with as much determination as Rudd has displayed during his 32 seasons behind the wheel. Few drivers in today's NASCAR possess the grit of a driver that would tape his eyelids open in order to compete or endure second degree burns in 1998 to continue his streak of 16 winning seasons.
Rudd has posted 23 wins, 29 poles, 194 top fives and 374 top 10s in 897 career starts. His best finish in 2007 was seventh place at Lowe's Motor Speedway in May.
Rudd says he'd be interested in testing for teams. With his experience on a variety of racetracks it would be easy for Rudd to provide a baseline for teams to build upon.
And like fellow veteran Mark Martin, who has mentored up-and-coming drivers, Rudd would be quite valuable in a similar role. Rudd was able to help teammate David Gilliland get up to speed on tracks where he had limited seat time this season, but sees himself working with drivers that are a bit more green.
"David was a pretty solid driver when he got here," Rudd said. "He wasn't like Paulie Harraka or the kid (Aric Almirola) that Mark has helped that may not have as much life experience when it comes to racing. David did a lot of dirt racing and he worked a lot with his father (Butch) so he knew what to expect when he got here. If I could be an asset to someone, I would take a look at that."
Rudd is fairly adamant that the time commitment surrounding a full-time season just isn't for him at this stage of life. At one time he was approached about sharing the seat with a couple of other veterans but the structure of the program would have to appeal to him. He knows for certain that a team like the No. 88 that is in the growing stages requires a greater obligation from the driver than he's willing to make right now.
"This is a young team that's building and it depends how quickly the engineering is absorbed from the (Carl) Haas input of it or how aggressively they blend it," Rudd said. "Right now this team on engineering is probably at the bottom of the rung. It's growing and it's starting to climb from the bottom with the Newman-Haas influence to the highest. How quickly they blend that engineering program will determine how quickly the performance comes along."
Doug Yates was grateful for Rudd's return. The popular veteran arrived during an era of transition for Robert Yates Racing that included a shift from a family-owned business to a partnership with Paul Newman, Carl Haas and Michael Lanigan.
"Having Ricky this year was really good for the company," Yates said. "At a time when we needed someone to lead and set the stage especially with David coming along, he's been a good mentor to David and really helped us get our program back.
"A lot of things have gone on in the last couple of years with drivers and sponsors and things like that so Ricky has been great. I think our performance is getting better and we've picked the right partners with the engineering and the marketing side of things. So, I think the timing is good."
With Rudd's decision made, he has plenty of time to consider what he wants to do with the rest of his life. During the off-season, Rudd contemplated making a transition into the TV booth, but quickly realized that the season was longer than he imagined.
"I look around the garage and think, 'What job slot would I like out there?'" Rudd said. "People who do this job, there's not a job out there in this sport that doesn't have a major time commitment. There's a lot of away-from-home time.
"This sport has been very good to me. But the sport is changing and I've seen a lot of those changes over the years. I've learned you got to roll with those changes. One of the commitments is that you're not at home hardly at all — and I don't want to miss out on any more of that. I'm looking forward to the next chapter and I really don't know exactly what that is but I think I have a much clearer direction of where I'm going."
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