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Ward Burton
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Ricky Rudd driver of the #21 Motorcraft Racing Ford Taurus will make his 700th Consecutive Start at Pocono Raceway on July 27th. Rudd began his consecutive-race streak at Riverside International Speedway on January 11, 1981, where he started 3rd and finished 19th. It was his 88th career start, dating back to March 2, 1975 at North Carolina Speedway where in his first career Winston Cup race he started 26th and finished 11th. Rudd's consecutive start streak will extend to 700 at Pocono Raceway on July 27 for the Pennsylvania 500 - Ricky's 787th Winston Cup career start. Rusty Wallace is second with 608 consecutive starts. Pocono will be Wallace's 609th consecutive start - over two and one third seasons behind Ricky. Rudd won his first career NASCAR Winston Cup race at Riverside in 1983 driving for Richard Childress Racing. It was his 161st career start. Rudd's two biggest possibilities of the streak ending came in 1984 when he flipped violently while running in the Busch Clash at Daytona and in 1988 when he wrecked while competing in The Winston. Rudd has amassed 23 wins, 189 top fives and 358 top tens during his career.. He also has collected 28 pole positions and won over $30 million. Rudd is 24th on the NASCAR Winston Cup all-time win list and 11th on the NASCAR Winston Cup all-time pole list. During his 700 consecutive start streak, Ricky has finished in the top-10 46 percent of the races and during his career 45.6 percent of the races. Rudd has finished inside the top-10 in points 19 times since 1981. Total, Rudd has acquired 787 career starts (including the Pocono 500), placing him fourth all time behind NASCAR legends Richard Petty (1,177), Dave Marcis (882) and Darrell Waltrip (809). Rudd is one of 25 drivers to total 500 or more starts in their NASCAR Winston Cup careers. Only two other drivers, currently competing on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit, have a career total of more than 700 starts - Terry Labonte (765 through Pocono) and Bill Elliott (715 through Pocono). Rudd surpassed Terry Labonte's record of 655 consecutive starts that ran from January of 1979 to August of 2000 at the 2002 Coca-Cola 600 when he made his 656th Winston Cup start. During his career, Rudd has competed in NASCAR Winston Cup events at 28 different racetracks around the country and won at 14.. He ran at least one race at each of those tracks during the streak, except Ontario Motor Speedway. Rudd was the NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year in 1977. Rudd is one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers.
