On the opening lap last week in Texas, Ricky Rudd was hit from behind, sending him over the top of David Ragan backwards. More than knocking him out, the incident was a microcosm of Rudd's season, which has been moving backwards since he took the green flag for the Daytona 500.
After taking a year away from racing, Rudd returned to the Nextel Cup circuit with Robert Yates Racing this year and qualified in second position for the season-opener.
There has been nothing to cheer about since.
Rudd finished 26th at Daytona and Atlanta, 27th at California, 30th at Las Vegas, 33rd at Texas and 38th at Bristol, where he was involved in a late crash.
Heading into this weekend's date in Phoenix, Rudd finds himself 30th in the points.
But the fact that Phoenix will feature the Car of Tomorrow should offer Rudd some encouragement. Rudd finished 13th at Martinsville, the second Car of Tomorrow race. Phoenix is race No. 3 for the COT.
Further sweetening the possibilities at Phoenix is the fact that Rudd will reach a milestone in his NASCAR career at Phoenix, making his 883rd Cup start to tie Dave Marcis for second on the all-time list behind Richard Petty's 1,184. Rudd holds the record for consecutive Cup starts at 788, which he ended by taking a hiatus following the 2005 season.
But the 50-year-old Virginian is much more interested in becoming more competitive than in setting longevity records and there are indications that could happen at Phoenix. Rudd also isn't sure what to expect at Phoenix, which, at one mile in length, is the longest track the COT has raced upon yet.
"I'm probably as confident as anyone, honestly, and I just really don't know what to expect," Rudd said. "I guess because the car is so new to everybody, there's just a question mark for us. I'd like to be optimistic, but it's hard to be confident until you get your first laps out there on the track."
Rudd thinks he could have secured a top-10 finish at Martinsville had electrical problems not foiled his Ford Fusion.
"We had all kinds of problems," Rudd said. "The alternator quit charging early on, but luckily we had two battery systems. Part of the price I had to pay was trying to keep the car in clean air and turn off the radiator fans. I had to turn off the helmet blower. I had no cool helmet all day long and it about cooked me.
"We probably had a 10th-place car and ended up 13th just trying to take care of all the stuff on the car. I guess 13th, with the way we've been going lately, is a pretty big boost for these guys. It's definitely a step in the right direction."
The Yates team hasn't been able to get what Rudd calls the "standard" car to a top-20 level.
"Other than Daytona, where we had a car that could have won a race, we've been a 20th to 25th-place car performance-wise," Rudd said. "We've had issues. We've had some problems with wrecks and such, but on-track performance has been about a 25th-place car. We were about a 20th-place car at Bristol (a COT race) and that was it, so at least it went good (at Martinsville). I'd like to say, 'OK, we've got all of our issues fixed and we're settled,' but it seems to be such a big hit-and-miss for everybody on this Car of Tomorrow."
After taking a year away from racing, Rudd returned to the Nextel Cup circuit with Robert Yates Racing this year and qualified in second position for the season-opener.
There has been nothing to cheer about since.
Rudd finished 26th at Daytona and Atlanta, 27th at California, 30th at Las Vegas, 33rd at Texas and 38th at Bristol, where he was involved in a late crash.
Heading into this weekend's date in Phoenix, Rudd finds himself 30th in the points.
But the fact that Phoenix will feature the Car of Tomorrow should offer Rudd some encouragement. Rudd finished 13th at Martinsville, the second Car of Tomorrow race. Phoenix is race No. 3 for the COT.
Further sweetening the possibilities at Phoenix is the fact that Rudd will reach a milestone in his NASCAR career at Phoenix, making his 883rd Cup start to tie Dave Marcis for second on the all-time list behind Richard Petty's 1,184. Rudd holds the record for consecutive Cup starts at 788, which he ended by taking a hiatus following the 2005 season.
But the 50-year-old Virginian is much more interested in becoming more competitive than in setting longevity records and there are indications that could happen at Phoenix. Rudd also isn't sure what to expect at Phoenix, which, at one mile in length, is the longest track the COT has raced upon yet.
"I'm probably as confident as anyone, honestly, and I just really don't know what to expect," Rudd said. "I guess because the car is so new to everybody, there's just a question mark for us. I'd like to be optimistic, but it's hard to be confident until you get your first laps out there on the track."
Rudd thinks he could have secured a top-10 finish at Martinsville had electrical problems not foiled his Ford Fusion.
"We had all kinds of problems," Rudd said. "The alternator quit charging early on, but luckily we had two battery systems. Part of the price I had to pay was trying to keep the car in clean air and turn off the radiator fans. I had to turn off the helmet blower. I had no cool helmet all day long and it about cooked me.
"We probably had a 10th-place car and ended up 13th just trying to take care of all the stuff on the car. I guess 13th, with the way we've been going lately, is a pretty big boost for these guys. It's definitely a step in the right direction."
The Yates team hasn't been able to get what Rudd calls the "standard" car to a top-20 level.
"Other than Daytona, where we had a car that could have won a race, we've been a 20th to 25th-place car performance-wise," Rudd said. "We've had issues. We've had some problems with wrecks and such, but on-track performance has been about a 25th-place car. We were about a 20th-place car at Bristol (a COT race) and that was it, so at least it went good (at Martinsville). I'd like to say, 'OK, we've got all of our issues fixed and we're settled,' but it seems to be such a big hit-and-miss for everybody on this Car of Tomorrow."
