Despite outstanding pit stops, even under extraordinary circumstances, Ricky Rudd’s Coca-Cola C2/Motorcraft Taurus did not perform up to the team’s expectations on the race track.
The first stop of the night came in at 8.2 seconds for two tires and a full tank of fuel. The second stop was an unbelievable 16.26 seconds on lap 46 after Jamie McMurray’s car was turned nose-first into Ricky’s pit just as jack-man Tony Martin was making his dash around the right front fender of the #21 C2 Ford. The startled Martin and the rest of the pit crew continued the stop, hardly missing a beat.
The team’s second slowest stop of the night was completed under a cloud of smoke and green flag conditions on lap 110. The pit crew changed four tires, made a chassis adjustment and filled the car with fuel in 16.1 seconds while engulfed in a haze of fire extinguisher powder and smoke from problems with the Bobby Hamilton, Jr. car that was pitting in the stall directly in front of Rudd’s. It was thick enough to hinder the sight of both Ricky and his crew.
The final stop of the night, again for two tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment was an outstanding 6.8 seconds on lap 141.
“The car ran real well about the first ten laps under race conditions,” said Rudd. “Then it just started pushing, and it wouldn’t turn. And the more they worked on it, it seemed like the worse it got. I don’t know what to say other than that. The motor, we had a really good motor on the straightaway. It is a shame we couldn’t take advantage of it.”
Rains approaching monsoon type conditions that hit the 2.5-mile speedway late in the afternoon had delayed the race two hours. A pesky drizzle that made track drying difficult continued until right before the yellow and green flag start at 9:35 p.m. The first eight circuits were completed at caution lap speeds with competitors actually taking the green flag on lap nine.
Ricky came in second behind Michael Waltrip for his first pit and went back out second. He stayed in second place until lap 26. He ran as far back as 26th, but finished 17th. Jeff Gordon won the traditional July 4th weekend event.
It was a happy driver and team that left Daytona both Thursday and Friday nights. Qualifying on Thursday brought Ricky and his Wood Brothers Racing team a third place start for the Saturday night, July 4th weekend event.
Two practices were scheduled for Friday, but rain showers delayed to the first one, so NASCAR decided to limit teams to one 90-minute session. And when that ended, Ricky had posted fast time for the day and the weekend – 46.898 seconds around the 2.5-mile high banks at 191.908 miles per hour.
Immediately following his qualifying run Ricky spoke to the media. He said, “We’re actually a little bit quicker than practice, so we’re really happy. They had it cranked up here tonight. At Talladega we sat on the pole there, so I knew we could be a factor. We were seventh or eighth in practice and we ran good. I’m a little disappointed we didn’t get the pole, but heck, with the way our season has gone so far this is the next best thing.”
