The Chase isn't the concluding event at Homestead

It seems appropriate that two of racing's most intriguing talents, driver Ricky Rudd and owner Robert Yates, exit the Cup stage together after Sunday's race at Homestead. Matthew O'Haren/Icon SMI

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Much of the attention at Homestead will focus on the championship battle between Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, and rightfully so. But that's not the only major story nearing an end this Sunday. Away from that Nextel Cup trophy circus will be a handful of drivers, sponsors and car owners whose careers all share a similar bond; after one more weekend of racing, their lives will never be the same.

With that in mind, here are five things to respect and appreciate one more time at Homestead; relish them while you can:

Ricky Rudd

The 51-year-old Rudd plans to make his 906th and final Nextel Cup start this Sunday, putting the final touches on a career that spanned four different decades. Second behind only Richard Petty in longevity, the race will cap a disappointing one-year comeback after Rudd left the sport following the 2005 season; he's got just one top-10 finish this year and missed five races due to a separated shoulder suffered in September.

One of the sport's true independents, Rudd embodies the entrepreneurial spirit of the '90s, in which his self-owned team rose to prominence through a six-year span that included a Brickyard 400 win in 1997. Never lucky enough for the stars to align for a championship, Rudd did finish second in points in '91, then gave Jeff Gordon a spirited run at the title a decade later while driving for Yates. Arguably, it was with Yates where Rudd experienced his most consistent success: he accumulated three wins, 34 top 5s, and finished in the top 5 in points back-to-back for the only time in his career ('00-01).

But the enduring image of Rudd will be the toughness he took so much pride in. The sport's true Iron Man, Rudd had a total of 788 consecutive starts over a span of 22 years, from 1983-2005. Throwing both injuries and caution to the wind, Rudd drove through races in pain you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. During the '84 Daytona 500, his eyes were so swollen following a wreck the week before he actually taped them open in order to race the full 500 miles. Fourteen years later, the enduring image for modern fans will be when a heat-stricken Rudd collapsed after running a tough-as-nails 500 laps at Martinsville, the result of a faulty cooling system that had left him with burns on his back and completely dehydrated, yet the Virginian insisted on finishing the race.

Where did Rudd get his oxygen mask that day? Victory Lane. That tells you just about all you need to know for this legend, undoubtedly a future Hall of Famer.

Robert Yates

Lost among the hubbub of Rudd retiring is the official exit of his car owner, Robert Yates, from the sport. One of the premier engine builders of his time, Yates bought the former Harry Ranier-owned No. 28 in '88 as a tiny one-car operation, a team sponsored by Texaco Havoline with second-generation driver Davey Allison behind the wheel. Over the next two decades, he used his engine expertise, combined with the talent of a laundry list of future Hall Of Fame drivers, to build up the team into a two-car Ford powerhouse.

Allison, Ernie Irvan, Dale Jarrett, and Rudd went on to win a total of four Daytona 500s, two Brickyard 400s, and 57 races over a span of 18 years. In its prime, the No. 88 Ford of Jarrett proved superior to the current Roush Fenway juggernaut of today, with the veteran handing Yates his only Cup title as a car owner in '99 with a record 29 top-10 finishes (ironically, Jeff Gordon can break this mark with a top-10 finish at Homestead).

But Yates will also be remembered for the terrible amounts of tragedy through which his team has suffered. The original driver of the No. 28, Davey Allison, died in a helicopter crash in July, 1993. Just 13 months later, Irvan suffered near-fatal injuries in a wreck at Michigan and was forced to leave the sport for a full year and eventually retire from those injuries during the '99 season.

Over time, the inability of Yates to expand his operation would also take its toll. This season, he needed longtime primary sponsor Mars to step up and provide additional funding merely to remain a two-car team. While Yates Racing will now remain under the ownership of his son, Doug, it will hardly be the individual powerhouse it was in its prime; the team is becoming a satellite operation of Roush Fenway Racing, moving next door to its shops in Concord, N.C., where Roush will supervise all chassis construction and most other aspects of the operation.

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