Ricky Rudd Race Quotations

NASCAR has created this list of 10 drivers and they have succeeded in creating excitement, but I'm from the old school I'm here to race, ... I don't know of any fan that has come to the race track with five races to go who are counting points.  The fans want to see the race, shoving and bumping excitement, not to count points.

We've wrecked out of this race the last three times,

Nowadays, as they've been working on the cars and the quality control is getting a lot better, there's not a really a big difference. The cars are built specifically for different types of race tracks, whether it's a high-travel track or low-travel track, and that's what they go by. They go by data. It's past me, way beyond me now. But as far as me saying I've got a favorite car, they're getting stuff more consistent. I don't really see that anymore. They all seem to run about the same - unless they're purposely trying to make one differently, which they can do very easily.

We're real pleased with that, ... There is nothing there for the guys to hang their head about.  We came off the truck fast and only made a few changes to the car.  It started in the spring race with a new car built for this race track. We had a good solid run and I don't think the car has been run since then. Our car will be good on long race runs.  I'm more excited about the race than qualifying based on the long runs.

I have not taken a vacation or sick day in nearly 30 years of racing, and with my contract with the Wood Brothers expiring at the end of this race season, it seemed like the perfect time to step back and take a break.

I'm really sort of surprised at this run because we spent 98 percent of our time yesterday working on race setup and I got really comfortable with what I had there, ... Within the rules structure they allow you to do a few things for qualifying and the guys took advantage of that.

The guys did a great job in the pits, ... We just sort of tried to stay out of trouble. We've wrecked out of this race like the last three times. It's usually been a good race track for us and we were lucky we got a good qualifying spot and just tried to keep our nose clean all night.

I may drive in a few races next year if someone needs a substitute driver ... (but) if I were never to drive again, I have had a great career.