Ricky Rudd: "Now, as racetracks do, as they weather it makes for better racing on the top of the track, so I'm starting to like it better."
One lucky fan will win a million dollars this weekend if Ricky Rudd goes to Victory Lane at Atlanta. Rudd's No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Taurus will run the Rent-A-Center colors on Sunday, and the associate sponsor has posted a $1 million dollar payout if Rudd wins the race. Jason Sigmon of Alpharetta, Ga., won a drawing from entries collected from Rent-A-Center locations in the Atlanta area. Rudd discusses this and answers fan questions on Atlanta, the Chase for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup and his engine package.


What paint colors will you run at Atlanta? "It's going to be the blue and yellow Rent-A-Center scheme we've run a couple times before this year. And, it's not only the colors we're carrying that weekend, but there is a big contest going on at the Rent-A-Center locations. I believe we will have an honorary crew chief for that day, and with that if we are fortunate enough to win the race the person who wins the drawing will win a million dollars. There's a lot on the line at Atlanta. It would be a great day to win a race and go to victory lane, and to have a lucky fan win a million dollars would make it a pretty neat weekend."


What is your best career finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway under the new configuration, and what is the difference between the old Atlanta and the new Atlanta? "There are very few similarities between the two. The first time after they reconfigured the track when we showed up there, you might as well say it was a new track. The old track was a much slower track. I personally liked the old one better. It was much flatter. We have struggled on the new track. We've run well at times, but we've had more bad finishes than good finishes. We've had a sixth and seventh on the new track, but I don't remember being in contention or challenging for the win, so those were probably the highlights. I remember having a really good car there when I was driving for Yates, and we were going for the pole, and the car bottomed out in turn one and wrecked it, and that was really unfortunate. That car would have been a really good car to run there, and we would have had a really good finish. Unfortunately I destroyed the car and didn't get the chance to race it. But, I'm getting to like it better as the track is starting to weather out and cure a little bit. It's better to race on. You can run the top and run the bottom. When they first reconfigured it, it was a one-groove race track right on the bottom. Now, as race tracks do, as they weather it makes for better racing on the top of the track, so I'm starting to like it better. We'll see. We're hoping for a good run there."


Are you going to take the car you had at Charlotte to the race at Atlanta? "I'm not sure which car is going to go. I don't have the answer to that. The Charlotte car we really struggled with until right there at the end of the race. If we do carry that car it might not be a bad idea because now we know what makes it tick. We didn't get a chance to test at Charlotte, and we kept tweaking on it, and at the end of the race it was pretty racy."


With the speeds that are being achieved in Atlanta, do you ever expect to see restrictor plates there? "NASCAR has talked about restrictor plates. I think they've actually done some tests with them there. There intent was to slow the corners down and slow the entry speeds into the corners down. I believe the restrictor plates slowed the lap times down. But, they slowed the straightaway speeds down, and the cars were actually faster in the corners. I don't see restrictors coming there any time soon just based on those tests there. It didn't accomplish what they wanted them to. I don't look for that to happen."


Which would you rank higher at Atlanta, aerodynamics or horsepower? "Aerodynamics, for sure. Horsepower is critical, don't get me wrong, but Atlanta is seems like 75, 80 percent corner there. You've got to roll through the corners and roll through freely, and you've got to have your car where it stays on the bottom of the racetrack without a lot of effort. If you can accomplish that, to me that is a lot more important than the horsepower."


What motors are you running since you split ways with Roush? "That really didn't change the motor program. I don't know all the ins and outs of the Roush/Yates alliance, but I know the motor program hasn't changed. We've had really good motors all year long. The early part of the season we just weren't getting through the corners like we needed to. That has changed now since Fatback has come on board. And, the motors are really starting to shine now. I knew that we had power, but we just weren't going through the corners like we needed to. And now the motors and set-ups compliment each other. I'm very pleased with the motor program."


Do you think 10 are too many "playoff" races? "I don't really have an answer for that. I'm just sort of watching like everyone else and noticing the good and the bad with the new system. Everybody can form an opinion of it, and everyone has an opinion. As I see more of it I'm not a big fan of it. I said let's give it some time and see how it works. What I don't like about it, everyone has an equal chance to get into that top time, but you've got about 40 or 50 teams here every week, and 10 teams are getting the attention and the rest of them are not, and I'm afraid it's going to upset the apple cart. It could end up being a pretty negative situation for the teams that are not in the top 10. A lot of pressure could be put on these guys by their sponsors, especially when it comes time to re-up the sponsorship agreements. We'll just have to wait and see how that plays out. I'm just a firm believer that if a team is having a good day and running well, leading laps and doing well - that team depends on media coverage to justify their existence to the sponsor. If that team isn't getting TV time, the sponsor could possibly go away. I'm not real good at figuring out how to fix the situation. I guess it's easy for everybody to be a critic and figure out what's wrong with it. I've sort of made my opinion public on what I didn't like about it. Maybe the answer is shortening up the number of races -- maybe having five or something like that. That might make it better. There are probably a hundred opinions on how it could be tweaked or adjusted, maybe make it better."


You got together with a lot of your fan club members this past Thursday. How did that go? "It went really good. We had it at a place out in the country called Oehler's BBQ. It's like a big old fancy barn. It's set up to entertain. They have a stage and actually have a kitchen there. It's a real neat family atmosphere. I had a chance to meet a lot of the fans. There was a good turnout. It was a real good crowd and a lot of the fans brought their fans along. It was neat. There were people from Canada and all over the country. It still amazes me that they would come to this annual fan club get together. A lot of them were going to the races, but a lot of them weren't. It was real low-key, and everybody had a good time. It's a great event."