Tryson: Rudd's car is ready to go to Loudon

The Wood Brothers had a little extra work to do this week. Seems the car the team used at Richmond International Raceway last weekend, the same one it planned to use Sunday at New Hampshire, got a few extra dents and scratches.

	Kevin Harvick stands atop his car following the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 at RIR. Ricky Rudd nudged Harvick on the frontstretch in the closing laps, sending Harvick slamming in the wall. Credit: AP

Ricky Rudd's No. 21 was fine as it pulled on to pit road after a third-place finish in the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 last Saturday night. But Kevin Harvick and some of Harvick's crew had other ideas.

Harvick, upset over a bump-and-run by Rudd that left Harvick with a crashed car, bumped into Rudd's car on pit road. That was the first bit of damage, a crumpled right-front fender.

Mike Scearce, a crewman for Harvick, joined Harvick as the two stood on Harvick's windowsill. Harvick and Scearce then leapt to Rudd's hood, walking on it as they made their way to the ground. That was the second damaged portion of the car.

On Monday, NASCAR handed down fines and suspensions and probation for the incident. By then, Pat Tryson, Rudd's crew chief, was almost finished repairing the car.

Tryson, who was also fined for "improper language" said the team started working on the damaged car Sunday, when a couple crew members came in to start repairs. Tryson said the team hung a new right-front fender, built a new hood and rebuilt the cowl area of the car. They painted it Monday night, and now it's ready for the 800-mile journey from the team's shop in Stuart, Va. to NHIS in Loudon, N.H.

VIDEO CLIPS Harvick is enraged after on-track incident with Rudd Play video Final laps: Harvick, R. Gordon find the wall late Play video

"It's a pretty decent amount (of work)," Tryson said. "It was not what we expected to have to do after the checkered flag had fallen. We thought we were going to be able to wipe it off, put a new motor in and go to the next week.

"So it was a little more than we expected, but you can't say it's not more than you would normally expect to have expected to do after a short track."

Richard Childress, Harvick's car owner, offered to pay for the damage to Rudd's car, but the Wood Brothers declined. That's racing, Tryson said.

"He's a great guy," Tryson said. "He didn't want to see that happen, and we didn't want to see that happen. It's part of racing -- not a great part of racing, but it happens every now and then. He's got a wrecked race car that he's got to get fixed, too. We don't feel like he's obligated to fix our car."

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Besides, it would be difficult to put a dollar amount on the repair work. It's not like you can take a race car down to the local body shop for an estimate.

"Hopefully we can make something good come out of it, for both of us," Tryson said.

The car Rudd raced in Richmond is a unique design, one built for short tracks. Rudd used it to finish 12th at NHIS in July, and it ran well again at Richmond.

Tryson said he and his team was ready to put the incident behind them and he didn't expect any repercussions from Harvick's crew. Tryson said he and Todd Berrier, Harvick's crew chief, talked Tuesday.

"I get along great with those guys over there," Tryson said. "I surely wouldn't think one incident would cause people to not like each other any more. You've got to spend 40 weekends in the garage together.

	After the race, Harvick stopped his car on pit road to confront Rudd.

"Those incidents, fortunately, don't happen quite often. We don't want them to, but they do happen. You can't get mad at everybody over one thing.

"I understand where they were coming from. They're trying to run Matt down in the points. It's critical for them, but at the same time, it's critical for us because we needed a good run to get things going."

Tryson said his crew understands the rules of the road. First, you have to protect your driver and your car. Fighting won't be tolerated, but ...

"You can't have somebody coming over and taking a whack at your driver," Tryson said. "The first thing is protect your driver. Protect your car.

"Our guys are not supposed to be fighting. We don't want that, we don't want any part of that. But at the same time, you can't let people just go run over you either."

That's why the emotions spilled over, and Tryson was overheard using the "improper language."

"In the heat of battle, things come out that you don't necessarily want to come out," Tryson said. "If there was a microphone in front of my face, surely I wouldn't have said it. At the same time, it did get out, and you've got to accept responsibility for those things. I feel like they were fairly fair with everybody. Let's put it behind us and go racing."