Notebook

Rudd sets record for consecutive Winston Cup starts

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) -- Riding a new motorcross bike earlier this week, it suddenly dawned on Ricky Rudd how dangerous it could be.

"I thought, 'Wouldn't it just be my luck to break my leg on this thing and then not be able to start the race on Sunday?'" Rudd said.

Nothing happened, though, allowing Rudd to take the green flag in the Coca-Cola 600 and break Terry Labonte's Iron Man record with his 656th consecutive start.

Before the race, Labonte presented Rudd with an Iron Man trophy and Havoline, sponsor of Rudd's No. 28 Ford, gave him a trophy made out of a huge chunk of iron.

All the attention overwhelmed Rudd, who finished fourth.

"I'm kind of a low-key guy, I just come to race," he said. "To be honest, today doesn't feel like any other day. It's just another day at the office, as far as I'm concerned."

It was fitting, though, that Rudd broke the record at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Had it not been for a strong run at this track in 1980, his career might never have gotten this far.

After several seasons of off-and-on racing in a family-owned ride, Rudd's fourth-place finish here helped him obtain a full-time ride for the 1981 season and he hasn't missed a race since.

"Prior to that race, we ran a limited schedule with our family's car," Rudd said. "We were about finished -- out of money, out of time and just about out of racing."

Penske falls short of two-victory day

Car owner Roger Penske lost any chance of pulling off a pair of victories when bad luck struck his NASCAR teams.

Penske, who owned the car Helio Castroneves drove to victory in the Indianapolis 500, fielded the Fords driven by Rusty Wallace and Ryan Newman in the Coca-Cola 600.

Newman, a rookie, was thought to have one of the stronger cars in the field but blew his engine early in the race.

"I thought we were going to have a pretty decent car once the race started to draw out," he said. "That's just part of it, I guess. They're engines, they do break."

Wallace was never a factor Sunday and finished 10th. Newman, who won The Winston last week for his first career Cup victory, finished 41st. It's the second time he's blown an engine here -- he did it last year while leading on the final lap of a qualifying race before The Winston.

"I guess Charlotte has been my place for engine failures," he said.

Hass-Carter back on track

Car owner Travis Carter got a temporary reprieve in his sponsorship woes when Discover Card signed a six-race agreement with Haas-Carter Motorsports.

The partnership begins next weekend at Dover International Speedway, when Todd Bodine will drive a black and orange No. 26. The car will also run at Pocono, Michigan, Sears Point and Daytona before concluding at Chicagoland on July 14th.

Haas-Carter has suffered through a tumultuous 2002 campaign. Just prior to the season-opener at Daytona, the primary sponsor on both Haas-Carter Fords, Kmart Corp., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. They then pulled sponsorship from both cars at Rockingham and Haas-Carter eventually ceased operations.

"All of that is behind us," Haas said. "We're looking forward to the future, to building a relationship between Discover and Haas-Carter.

"We're all anxious to get back to work. I'm so glad Todd's back with us. I have the highest regard for him. He got a bad deal earlier in the year."

Home improvement battleground

The rivalry between sponsors is never more evident than here, with two home improvement stores battling for attention.

Since Lowe's sponsor's the track, that store tries to take all the attention and had all weekend when rookie Jimmie Johnson, also sponsored by Lowe's, won the pole for the race.

But Home Depot, the official home improvement store of NASCAR, greeted fans outside the track with a monstrous billboard featuring Tony Stewart, the driver they sponsor, with the words "We'll see who really owns this track."

Home Depot also handed out close to 100,000 orange glow sticks to the fans shopping in the souvenir aisle in an effort to create an orange atmosphere when the sun went down on the race.

 

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