NASCAR Cup
Sears Point: Ricky Rudd preview
RUDD TO BE INDUCTED INTO INFINEON RACEWAY'S WALL OF FAME CHARLOTTE, NC (June 19, 2007) -- This weekend the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series travels to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California for the Toyota/Save Mart 350. Ricky Rudd, driver of the ...
Published: Jun 22, 2007, 7:22 PM
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RUDD TO BE INDUCTED INTO INFINEON RACEWAY'S WALL OF FAME
CHARLOTTE, NC (June 19, 2007) -- This weekend the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series travels to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California for the Toyota/Save Mart 350. Ricky Rudd, driver of the #88 Snickers Ford, will be inducted into the Infineon Raceway Wall of Fame on Friday morning in the raceway's Winner's Circle. Rudd who is a two-time winner at Infineon Raceway is known for his road-course success and is among the best when it comes to road-course racing in NASCAR. This weekend's Toyota/Save Mart 350 will also mark the return of the Car of Tomorrow chassis for the NEXTEL Cup Series teams and it will be the first time the Car of Tomorrow has competed on a road course.
Quoting Snickers Driver, Ricky Rudd:
What does it mean to you to be inducted into Infineon Raceway's Wall of Fame this weekend?
"I'm really honored and proud to be chosen for the Wall of Fame. It's wonderful to be a part of the history of the Cup racing out at Infineon and I'm just proud of the fact that we've had some accomplishments out there that they see worthy enough to place me on their Wall of Fame."
Your first victory at Sonoma was the closest margin of victory at the track, what do you remember about that win?
"I just remember Rusty Wallace and myself out there in the final laps. There was some beating and banging going on with our two cars and I just came off on the good end of it. No one got spun off onto the dirt or anything, but it was just side-by-side and two wheels in the dirt. It was just a typical old-style NASCAR finish and I remember that it was a dog fight right up until the end and even on the last lap. In all the wins I've ever had I don't think there was one with a simple drive across the finish line to the checkered flag."
What do you think the key to success is for racing at Infineon Raceway?
"I think the earlier days of Infineon a lot of the success that drivers had there was thanks to traditional road racing techniques to get around the race track. Back when I began racing at Infineon there was only a handful of guys that you really had to focus on and deal with up at the front of the pack because a lot of the others couldn't adapt to driving cars the way we could. They were used to braking with their left foot and when they had to start braking with their right foot, it threw a lot of them off and they just couldn't do it. In recent years, Infineon is one of those tracks that's just very competitive. You need to know when to turn up your intensity as the race develops. It's very easy to use up your equipment in the first part of that race and not have anything left for the end. Basically you just have to be smart on how to save your car for the entire length of the race at road courses like Infineon."
-credit: ryr
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