Richmond Preview

The driver of the #21 Motorcraft Racing Ford Taurus says, "I really don't have a favorite track," but Richmond International Raceway is certainly a site of a number of Rudd's successes in Winston Cup. In 48 appearances at the Virginia short track, Ricky has two wins, two poles, 19 top-fives and 27 top-10s. He has not missed a Winston Cup race there since 1981. Here is Ricky's description of a qualifying lap at Richmond.

"On a qualifying lap, you leave pit road and run the apron around one and two and pull up on the track on the backstretch. That can be a little bit tricky on cold tires. You have to make sure you get some good heat in the tires so that when you go into turn three you don't spin out going into three. So you try to abuse your tires as much as you can coming up to speed there, especially for your qualifying lap.

"It is not a whole lot different than a lot of tracks we run. You accelerate out of turn four, way back in the center of corner, trying to keep as much momentum as you can through the corner and the exit.

"It is kind of an unusually shaped exit to that corner, probably a little bit unique on the circuit, the way you're always turning the entire time down the front straightaway. By yourself it's not a real big issue. But racing, you want to be able to turn under the other cars coming off of turn four and you have to really work hard on your chassis to get it where it doesn't use every inch of race track and slide real close to the fence. Now and then, you will bump that fence, more so there than you will at Darlington. You have to work on your car so you can leave a lane of width there so that when you are racing in traffic you can pass on the inside instead of using the entire race track. It requires a chassis setup that is a little bit better than your competition so you can do that.

"You come out of turn four and slide all the way to the fence early. You run the front straightaway about three feet off the wall. Looking at turn one, there used to be a dip down there where the walk-through tunnel is and that would upset the cars a little bit. That was fixed a couple years ago.

"So you arc it into the corner. The only thing you have to be careful about is the sealer on the race track. They sealed it about a year ago. It's worn off the middle to the bottom groove. So when you arc it into the corner you try to keep your right side tires right on the edge before the sealer gets heavy. If you hang a tire six inches too wide going into turn one your car will get loose with you and if you don't spin it will definitely upset your lap. The wider you can arc the car going into turn one the faster you can go, but you're playing tag with the sealer that is left on the track right there. You can see it on the track, but when the sun gets down there late in the afternoon it's a little bit difficult to see it because it gets such a glare on it.

"But down into turn one, you run right down against the bottom with the left side tires right up against the line. It has gotten bumpy down in turn one. Every time we go there it has gotten a little bit bumpier. So you have to work on your shock absorbers. To get the right amount of control over the bumps can mean a lot on a long run.

"You keep your momentum through the corner as much as you can. In the middle of the corner, you are back in the throttle and you are working on your car so that when you get in the throttle you can leave it wide open. In the exit of turn two, it feels like it is off camber. As you are exiting the corner, it is almost like they ran out of space and started the backstretch wall a little early. So it would be nice if that wall were about three feet further to the right than it is, but it is there now so you deal with it.

"When you see action at Richmond a lot of times it is people when they exit turn two they've hit the wall. It's easier to do than you might think so you have to pay attention and leave a little extra room there as you exit turn two.

"But Richmond, again, is a momentum track. You keep the speed up through the corners and as you exit the corner keep the throttle down. As soon as you can get the throttle down, do it. The sooner you can do that, the quicker the lap will be."

"The good thing about Richmond is that you can pass almost anywhere on the race track. You can pass high. You can pass low. Again, they sealed the race track about this time last year. The track is just now getting back to the form it was in a couple years ago. So the side-by-side racing they used to have before they sealed it last year.