NASCAR Winston Cup Series Race # 16
Slick 50 300
Jul. 10, 1994
New Hampshire International Raceway--Loudon, NH
1.058 Mile Oval 300 Laps 317 Miles
LOUDON, N.H. -- Ricky Rudd, one of Winston Cup's most consistent winners, is the boss. But Bill Ingle, crew chief, made the call that went a long way toward Rudd's winning run in yesterday's rugged and ragged second Slick 50 300 Cup race at New Hampshire International Speedway in front of a crowd estimated at 72,000.
Rudd passed Dale Earnhardt with six laps to go to take the lead for the fourth and final time and earn a $91,875 paycheck. Earnhardt picked up $68,000 for finishing second and just as importantly took over the Cup Series lead by 4 points over Ernie Irvan. Irvan, the pole-sitter, wound up 30th after crashing on a restart.
Defending champion Rusty Wallace was third with Mark Martin and Todd Bodine completing the top five.
Rudd's average winning speed was 87.6 miles per hour in a race slowed by 17 caution flags as racers coped with asphalt that was breaking up and leaving debris and tire rubber on the track, making for some tricky driving.
"The cars were tearing up the asphalt and that didn't make it real pleasant," Rudd said. "But the track was drivable, I thought."
Rudd has now won at least one race a year for the last 12 years, but this was his first as a car owner, a role he took on with his Tide Ford this season.
It was the first win as a crew chief for Ingle, who sat out last year after three seasons leading Michael Waltrip's crew.
And it was Ingle's decision to put on just two tires, rather than four, with 34 laps to go that made the difference, according to Rudd.
"That call won us the race," Rudd said.
Not that he was excited about it at the time.
When Ingle told him before the pit stop what he wanted to do, Rudd noted over the radio that it was a decision that could win or lose the race.
"He only said it once," Ingle said with a smile.
They didn't argue, but the crew chief got the message.
Taking only two tires gained Rudd several spots on the leaders and he was up to third.
On the restart, when leader Geoff Bodine went high and slid off into the wall and Rudd felt he almost went in, too, he liked the decision even less.
"He said, 'These tires are junk,' " Ingle said. "I asked him to please just hang in with them."
By then, they were committed to the strategy.
It was all about track position, said Ingle. "If we had taken four tires, we would have come out sixth or seventh and we would have had to race to get to fourth or fifth. On these short tracks, where you can hardly get around cars, you've got to think about that."
Not having fresh enough rubber to compete up front could have backfired.
"It wasn't a no-brainer," Ingle said. "It was a gamble."
By the last 10 laps, Rudd had bought into the move.
"After those two tires were sticking like four new ones, I was thinking we've got something," Rudd said. "It was go for it. I wasn't going to do anything stupid, but I didn't care if we came back on a hook."
With 10 laps to go he was chasing Earnhardt.
After another caution with 10 laps to go, the two got down to business on lap 294. Rudd got under Earnhardt on the restart and they raced side by side around the mile oval until Rudd finally inched ahead to lead for the first time since Lap 102.
The $91,000-plus, Rudd admitted, will buy a lot of baby clothes for the first child he and his wife, Linda, are expecting in September.
Rudd wasn't the only one happy with the day's results.
Earnhardt and Wallace both gained in the points race.
Earnhardt started 28th and was way back early.
"But we kept adjusting, the crew never gave up and Dale never gave up," said car owner Richard Childress. "The most satisfying thing was to be able to come from 28th, going through all the problems. At the end, with all the cautions, the engine just got so hot it wouldn't get up and go. But no excuses, Ricky Rudd just beat us."
"We were off just a little all day long, but I'll take third and go home happy," Wallace said.
Fn St Driver Sponsor/Car Lap Pnt Reason
1 ( 3) Ricky Rudd Tide/Ford 300 180
2 (28) Dale Earnhardt GM Goodwrench/Chevrolet 300 175
3 (18) Rusty Wallace Miller Genuine Draft/Ford 300 165
4 (10) Mark Martin Valvoline/Ford 300 160
5 (15) Todd Bodine Factory Stores/Ford 300 155
6 ( 9) Morgan Shepherd Citgo/Ford 300 150
7 ( 6) Ted Musgrave Family Channel/Ford 300 151
8 (41) Kyle Petty Mello Yello/Pontiac 300 142
9 (22) Rick Mast Skoal Classic/Ford 300 143
10 ( 7) Sterling Marlin Kodak Film/Chevrolet 300 139
11 (11) Terry Labonte Kellogg's/Chevrolet 300 130
12 (23) Brett Bodine Quaker State/Ford 300 127
13 ( 4) Bobby Labonte Maxwell House/Pontiac 300 124
14 (31) Dale Jarrett Interstate Batteries/Chevrolet 300 121
15 (34) Lake Speed Quality Care/Ford 300 118
16 (21) Bill Elliott Budweiser/Ford 300 115
17 (32) Harry Gant Skoal Bandit/Chevrolet 300 112
18 (17) Dave Marcis AEL Rentals/Chevrolet 300 114
19 (35) Joe Nemechek Meineke/Chevrolet 300 106
20 (19) Randy LaJoie Fina Lube/Ford 299 103
21 (26) Rich Bickle Melling Racing/Ford 299 100
22 (40) Mike McLaughlin Coors/Chevrolet 299 97
23 (14) Darrell Waltrip Western Auto/Chevrolet 299 94
24 ( 5) Ken Schrader Kodiak/Chevrolet 298 91
25 (27) Greg Sacks US Air/Ford 298 88
26 (37) Jeremy Mayfield Children's Miracle Net/Ford 298 85
27 (24) John Andretti Financial World/Chevrolet 294 82
28 (36) Mike Wallace Heilig-Meyers/Ford 291 79
29 (20) Jimmy Hensley RaDiUs Motorsports/Ford 288 76 Crash
30 ( 1) Ernie Irvan Texaco-Havoline/Ford 284 83 Crash
31 (16) Geoff Bodine Exide Batteries/Ford 284 75 Crash
32 (13) Jimmy Spencer McDonald's/Ford 281 67
33 (25) Steve Grissom Diamond Ridge/Chevrolet 279 64
34 (29) Dick Trickle Sky Box Int'l/Chevrolet 252 61
35 ( 8) Derrike Cope Fingerhut/Ford 246 58
36 (30) Hut Stricklin Smokin' Joe's/Ford 227 55
37 (12) Michael Waltrip Pennzoil/Pontiac 180 57 Oil Pump
38 (39) Jeff Burton Raybestos/Ford 168 49 Engine
39 ( 2) Jeff Gordon DuPont/Chevrolet 160 51 Crash
40 (38) Bobby Hamilton Kendall/Pontiac 122 43 Crash
41 (42) Tim Steele Relife/Ford 103 40 Crash
42 (33) Ward Burton Hardee's/Chevrolet 100 37 Electrical
Busch Pole Award: Ernie Irvan--127.197 mph
Time of Race: 3:37:21
Average Speed: 87.619 mph
Margin of Victory: 0.690 seconds
Cautions: 17 for 83 laps
Lead Changes: 18 among 10 drivers