Rudd, Wood still focused on 2002 campaign

LOUDON, N.H. -- Neither Wood Brothers Racing nor Robert Yates Racing driver Ricky Rudd plan to give up on 2002, despite beginning plans for their partnership that begins in 2003.

	The Wood Brothers spent some time in the wind tunnels recently with their No. 21 car. Credit: Autostock

At New Hampshire International Speedway last weekend, both Rudd and Wood Brothers co-owner Len Wood denied any plans to make a driver swap prior to the end of this season.

Rather, their words and actions indicated they are more concerned with what is happening this season.

While Rudd and Elliott Sadler, the Woods' current driver, will in effect swap seats next season -- the changeover is not seamless.

"We're not initiating any kind of swap," Wood said. "The way we look at it, we made a deal with Motorcraft and Elliott Sadler and the Air Force, our associate sponsor, for the season. If we stop eight or nine races short, they lose 25 to 30 percent of what they were trying to do in terms of advertising.

"On the other side, Texaco would lose a huge part because Elliott Sadler is not going to be the Texaco driver next year -- that's Jamie McMurray. So those people would lose, just like the fans that have bought t-shirts and hats and things.

"They bought things like that with the expectation that it was for the year so if you look at it like that it's not fair to a lot of people and it would disturb a lot of stuff."

Wood said Sadler also still had a certain number of appearances scheduled for this year's sponsors.

Rudd claimed that, despite his lame duck status in Yates' No. 28 Havoline Ford, he still had the support of his team and was committed to trying to win his first Winston Cup title.

	Ricky Rudd. Credit: Autostock

In Sunday's New Hampshire 300, despite dropping a position in the standings, to 10th, Rudd picked up ground on point leader Mark Martin and trails by 227 points with nine races remaining.

Sadler, who started the season with a stunning second-place effort in the Daytona 500, most recently has been plagued by wrecks and other misfortunes and sits 26th in the standings. His last top-10 finish came in the New England 300 at New Hampshire, nine races ago.

The Woods took two cars to Kentucky Speedway last week so that Rudd can begin to sort out his chassis preference for when he gets into the legendary team's No. 21 Motorcraft Fords next season.

Wood said the experience was everything the team had expected.

"Ricky has just got an exceptional feel for the race car," Wood said. "I think he's going to be a big help to us in setups. If he thinks the left front spring is coil binding, you're going to look and yeah, it was.

"He talks about what he thinks this car will do over a long run in terms of what this other car will do. Both cars were the same, but he said he could take one on a 40-lap run and out-run the other one. He can sense that stuff and that's going to be a big help."

But even while they concentrated on Rudd and 2003 at the 1.5-mile Kentucky track, Sadler wasn't forgotten.

DRIVER PAGES  •  Ricky Rudd  •  Elliott Sadler

One of the cars Rudd tested is a brand new chassis which will serve as Sadler's backup for this weekend's MBNA All-American Heroes 400 at Dover International Speedway. And at the same time that the team tested at Kentucky, it had three cars at the Lockheed Martin wind tunnel in Marietta, Ga.

"One of them was a brand new car for Talladega," Wood said, "We're trying to juggle a lot right now. We've tested five or six times with Elliott since the announcement (that he would leave at the end of the year), so we're not giving up on him at all.

"We've got two more tests scheduled this year with Elliott, at Phoenix the Monday and Tuesday after Charlotte and Homestead between Atlanta and Rockingham."

Wood said he was not sure if the team would test again with Rudd this season. He said the fact that the team was waiting on new templates for 2003 -- including the new greenhouse template and those that address the new body location rules -- made any tests more useful for this season.