New England 300 - Ricky Rudd Notes

Ricky Rudd: "If they get that track surface under control, it is one of the best short tracks we can race on."

Qualifying at New Hampshire, always tricky at best, has become even more of an unknown with the reconfiguration of the race track last fall. Ricky Rudd, driver of the #21 Motorcraft Racing Ford Taurus expresses his thoughts on the difficult New England track. Rudd has one win at the 1.058-mile facility, six top-fives and eight top-10s in 16 starts.

"I don't think anybody has figured out what will happen with qualifying at New Hampshire. It used to be if you had an early draw and you were a fast guy in practice, you were going to run about a second slower than you would in practice. And that is a tremendous amount slower, but the cars don't tend to stick there.

"I haven't figured out what goes on at New Hampshire prior to qualifying. It had something to do with the race track sitting idle. So at New Hampshire you definitely wanted to have as late a draw (for qualifying) as you possibly can.

"For some reason, the last couple of times we were there it hasn't been as noticeable, but the race track is very temperature sensitive, just a very temperamental race track.

"I like the race track. It is a race track we've won at in the past and finished in the top five and top 10 a good bit. What I like about New Hampshire is that track conditions always seem to be treacherous. There have only been a couple races we've run there where the track conditions didn't deteriorate.

"The day that I won there, the track started coming apart, so you only had one groove around the corner. It just challenges you quite a bit because you are trying to work race traffic and improve your position so to advance your car you can tend to get bottle-necked in.

"We've only run New Hampshire a couple times when you've had both grooves working. And then it went to being one of the most difficult to one of the most fun tracks you can run on. So, it really depends on if the track is two grooves wide.

"I know the Bahres have worked really hard to get a good race going there. They are some of the most genuine and nicest promoters on the circuit. It's just that they have struggled with that race track surface and I understand that when we go back this time it is going to be a different surface again.

"It seems like the problems that they've got ought to be fixable. If they get that track surface under control, it is one of the best short tracks we can race on.

"But, as far as driving the track from the past, I can't tell you what groove to drive for qualifying, because it depends on what groove tears up."

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