Daytona 500 - Ricky Rudd Notes

Ricky Rudd

RICKY RUDD DESCRIBES BEST WAY AROUND DAYTONA

This coming Sunday afternoon, Ricky Rudd will attempt to recreate the run that put him on the pole for the 1983 Daytona 500. In addition to that pole, Rudd has started four events on the outside of the front row in his 52 career starts on the famed high banks. In 2000 he started second in both Winston Cup events at Daytona. His 53rd qualifying attempt will introduce the new Motorcraft Taurus colors the Wood Brothers car will display throughout the 2003 season.

Here is how Ricky describes the best way around Daytona for qualifying:

"It really is a pretty uneventful race track to drive in qualifying trim. The motors are de-tuned with the restrictor plates so it doesn't take a lot of driver effort to drive around Daytona. You leave pit road and go up through the gearbox. You grab fourth gear roughly about the time you exit turn two and you stay in high gear for the rest of the time. At Daytona with the restrictor plates, it takes a lap to a lap and a half to get up to speed. When you leave pit road for a qualifying lap you immediately go to the outside of the race track. You want to make the track as long as you can, make it a bigger track to give the car as much time as you can to build up the speed. On your first lap you will also run that high line. It is slower by about three-quarters of a second because you are going the long way around the race track because you are allowing the motor to build speed.

"So when you take the white flag to start your second lap, that is the when you run your normal line through the corners and drive down to the bottom of the race track to make the corners as short as you can. That's the most efficient way to run a lap, and you will see 99 percent of the competition doing that. Going down the backstretch, it is a little different than most of the race tracks. We've found that it is a little better most of the time to run the backstretch in the middle of the straightaway instead of right up against the wall like you are traditionally used to seeing. There are a couple of different reasons for that. It has to do with reducing the drag on the race car. When it gets close to the wall the drag increases. It makes the motor bog down just a little bit.

"The only exception to that will be if you've got a tremendous crosswind going down the backstretch. You usually read that by the way the flags are waving. They have flags posted around the race track and you can tell if you've got a crosswind coming from the grandstand you want to stay close to the wall. It's pretty uneventful when you are qualifying. Practice is another matter when you are running two-wide and three-wide. That's when the driver gets real busy."

NOTE: The first time Rudd goes into competition in the #21 Motorcraft Ford Taurus for Wood Brothers Racing will be Saturday night in the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway and his car will carry a special paint scheme. This year marks a very significant anniversary in the history of Ford Motor Company. The Dearborn, Mich., manufacturer is 100 years old. In honor of the occasion, Rudd will roll off fourth in the 19-car starting grid, determined Thursday afternoon by draw, in a Taurus decked out in a design that was created to promote and celebrate Ford Motor Company's 100th anniversary. His Motorcraft Taurus will feature a primarily silver paint scheme that incorporates the Ford 100-year logo and colorful arrays of centennial fireworks.

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