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Need a lift? For Rudd, Jones' track record worth consideringPosted: Tuesday August 13, 2002 2:14 PM
The ever-changing face of Jerry Jones' sporting empire is rumored to be adding Winston Cup to its resumé. Oh, 'boys. Jones, the Dallas Cowboys owner, and Andy Petree are joining forces to field a team in NASCAR's big league, and while no formal announcement has been made, Ricky Rudd could be in the driver's seat. Petree owns the No. 55 Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by Bobby Hamilton. Chip Ganassi Racing -- which fields Dodge Intrepids for Sterling Marlin and Jimmy Spencer -- is also wooing Rudd, who will not drive for Robert Yates Racing in 2003. Yates says Rudd won't have a spot on the team next year because he doesn't have enough funding for the No. 28. After Texaco's merger with Chevron, the company doesn't want to dole out the big bucks that Yates wants. Rudd says the Havoline deal is worth about $6 million less than Yates gets from UPS for teammate Dale Jarrett's car, meaning Texaco is in for about $11 million. Nonetheless, Yates will still have a two-car team next year with Jarrett and Elliott Sadler, who will be sponsored by M&Ms. In a nutshell, here's the deal: Rudd is out with Yates; Sadler is in. Rudd replaces Hamilton with Petree, and Hamilton moves into Sadler's seat with Wood Brothers Racing. Of course, it is Silly Season, so take all that with a grain of salt. Jones and Petree met with Rudd in late June, but the driver remains skeptical a deal can be struck. "That's a team that's out there and needs a driver and that's obviously a team that I've talked with," says Rudd. The Jones-Petree-Rudd alliance makes sense. Consider:
"Money isn't a concern," says Rudd. "I want to be with a team that I know can win next year. I don't have the time or the energy to try to build something up over three years. "I don't see it as a start-from-scratch operation," he says. "The way he's [Jones] going about doing it, basically teaming with a team that has won races as recently as last year, I think the length of time it's going to take him to get up and running and successful is going to be very, very short. Whether or not it will be the first year or the second year, I don't know. "I mean, this business is all about people. It all depends on the people turning the wrenches on the car." Jones knows a little about turning a run-of-the-mill team into a winner. The Cowboys were 1-15 in 1989, then celebrated Super Bowl victories in 1992 and '93. He put his coach in place, added his two cents' worth on personnel and reaped the rewards. Granted, Jones had a football background having played at Arkansas, a luxury he doesn't have with Winston Cup. A quick check showed that NASCAR 101 wasn't part of the UA curriculum in the mid-1960s. But with Petree on hand to serve as a check-and-balance, Jones will provide this team with a much-needed lift. If Jones-Petree wrangles Rudd, it would raise some eyebrows; after all, Ganassi is established as a front-running operation. But if it's another championship run that Rudd desires, Jones is the guy who can get him there fastest. His track record already shows that.
B. Duane Cross is a senior producer for CNNSI.com.
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