Another top-five finish gets Rudd rolling again

LOUDON, N.H. -- Ricky Rudd turned 47 on Friday. Two days later, he joked that he's "too old to be running in circles."

Recent history doesn't back up that statement.

Rudd, eight days removed from his well-publicized confrontation with Kevin Harvick at Richmond, finished second in Sunday's Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway.

"I guess it was pretty uneventful compared to last week," Rudd said with a chuckle. "It was pretty calm the whole race. Track position was really important."

Sunday's effort was Rudd's second consecutive top-three finish, following up a third-place effort last week at Richmond. It's also his best finish since his victory last year at Infineon Raceway.

RICKY RUDD  •  Driver Page  •  2003 Stats  •  Wood Brothers Racing

The recent run of success isn't a surprise to the veteran driver.

"These short tracks have been pretty good for us all year," Rudd said. "We just need to work on the bigger tracks where aerodynamics are critical."

Rudd started 31st on Sunday, but he said he knew the outcome would be decided on fuel mileage.

"I figured it was going to be the same type of race that we've run for the last two weeks," Rudd said. "We pretty much knew what the story was. We knew who was going to have to stop and who didn't, so the strategy played out."

	Credit: Autostock

That's not to say that Rudd was fully convinced.

"To be honest with you, I didn't have a clue exactly," said Rudd. "After the last pit sequence, I wasn't sure what was happening. A lot of times I'll question that. I'll say, 'Are you sure about that? Are you sure you want to come in and top off now?'

"You don't always have the whole picture as a driver," Rudd said. "You don't see the whole outcome and I don't add too good anyway, so I let those guys do that."

Rudd's team uses engines from Roush Racing, a team that didn't have good luck in that department, as Jeff Burton and Greg Biffle both were taken out of contention early with engine problems.

SYLVANIA 300  •  Standings  •  Results  •  Lap By Lap

Rudd's team wasn't concerned.

"Not all the Roush cars pull the same gear ratio out there," Rudd said. "We were probably more conservative on our gear than maybe some of the other guys were. It amazes me what these things do out there now."

The last time Rudd had three top-five finishes in a row was in June of 2001. He'll try to duplicate the feat next week at Dover -- another one-mile track.

"Dover's been a pretty good track to us over the years," Rudd said. "We're getting into a whole host of tracks where handling is really critical and air doesn't mean anything.

"Those are our kind of tracks."