Ricky Rudd: MBNA 400 preview

DOVER, Del. -- The next stop on the NASCAR Nextel Cup schedule is Dover, a track where Ricky Rudd has four victories and four poles. Throughout the season, fans have been asking Rudd, driver of the No. 21 Ford Parts and Service Taurus, questions via his website. This week, Rudd shares his views on racing on the concrete high-banked oval, how it compares to some of the other tracks on the circuit and his brief NASCAR Busch Series career.

What is your usual mindset going into the Dover races? Does your success there make a difference in how you think about the track?

"Every driver has his good and bad tracks. Dover and Bristol have been really good to me, especially Dover. I think we've got four wins there, and traditionally we've run well there, so you kind of look forward to going to those tracks. You know that if you have the set up, it is a track you can run well at. And drivers tend to look forward to going to the tracks where they have had success, and Dover is one of those for me."

What is the difference between Dover, New Hampshire and Phoenix?

"There are some similarities between New Hampshire and Phoenix. They are completely different tracks, though. Once you throttle up at Phoenix and the same at New Hampshire, you have an exit off the corner that you fight similar conditions. Generally at New Hampshire you fight trying to keep the front end turning all the way off the exit of the corner and it is very similar to Phoenix in that respect. The entry into the corners is nowhere near the same. Other than track lengths, that is about the only thing that compares with Dover. Dover would probably compare more to a Rockingham."

Since Dover has a concrete surface and high banks like Bristol, but is twice the size, is there any similarity in the way the tracks drive, and will you run the same chassis?

"I don't know about the chassis. Bristol is a very high travel track. You have to have a lot of ground clearance. Dover is somewhat so, but not as much as Bristol. So a lot of time that dictates what car they carry - the ground clearance. Concrete tracks - the similarities come in the shock package. Again, I don't know if they would use the same shocks. Anybody who has been down the interstate highways on the concrete knows that sometimes they have those little seams. That used to cause some problems on the Cup cars when we first started racing on the concrete tracks, but the guys have gotten so much better on the shock absorber technology that you virtually run a concrete track now and not feel the difference inside the car like you could before. That is mainly because of that technology. The concrete tracks are just generally less of a given. They have fairly good grip, but when the grip goes away a lot of times the car will snap loose on you pretty violently. Dover is a little bit like that. Exit from the corners is pretty calm, pretty good, but you don't want to make a mistake getting into the corner at Dover. Bristol is a little more forgiving than Dover. To me, Dover widens out into a two-groove race track when the race gets going, and Bristol doesn't quite make it. At Dover you can actually feel negative Gs. You actually go up against your seatbelt harness. If you didn't have your shoulder harness real tight you could probably hit your head on the roof of the car. At Bristol it feels like you are running around the inside of a barrel so it is an entirely different feel. The similarities are that they are both concrete, and that is probably the only thing that compares with the two."

How did going from asphalt to concrete change Dover?

"Dover, to me was a much better track when it was asphalt. So was Bristol for that matter, just because the racing was better. The only reason they changed those tracks is because they couldn't get the asphalt to stay down. It would tear up. The promoters had to do something. They probably at the time had to go to concrete to keep their race dates because a couple of those tracks were pretty disastrous when they started coming apart. So that was the reason they went to concrete. It wasn't their number one choice. But both tracks went to concrete. Both tracks were a lot more forgiving. You could run three-wide at both race tracks and race two-wide all day long. You could run the top or the bottom, depending on how your car was set up, and you would see some real good racing. Where now, you will see cars running up high on the race track, but a lot of times it is because the car is not handling and the driver is looking for grip by moving up the track. Again, I liked them with the black top, but over the years the concrete tracks have gotten better because the guys have gotten so much better with the set-ups and they drive better and you are not about to wreck at any moment. In the early years, they were pretty treacherous with the radial tires."

Since this is one of the most physically demanding tracks on the circuit, do you have a special exercise or diet regimen that you adhere to for this 400-lap event?

"It's not so much what you do, but what you don't do. They've got really good seafood in that part of the country and we love seafood. But, generally, on Saturday night I won't take any chances. I'll eat something rather bland. And I guess that is only for the fact that I've had (food) poisoning before from eating seafood, and I don't want to take a chance. But I love it -- still love it today. But I just don't take any chances with that - just don't want anything that is spicy, either. I drink a lot of fluids, especially load up on fluids the night before and on race morning."

It has been said that the shock package is what wins Dover. Seeing that you have several wins there do you agree with that or does the driver have a lot to do with it.

"It's not like the driver asks for certain things, the car asks for it and the track dictates what you have to do, and if you listen to it, it will tell you what you have to do. And, we have Vince (Valeriano), who I think is the best in the business with shocks - he's really good at that type of race track, knowing what the car wants. When we first went there on the concrete, it really presented a problem to the shock guys. But over the years most of these guys know what to do now on the shocks. I don't know from a technical standpoint at all, but there are a million adjustments on shocks. It's not so much what the driver needs, it's what the track tells you to do."

Since the heat of summer is upon us and is a big consideration especially on southern tracks, just how do they measure the track temperature during a race? Obviously they don't have someone run out on the track to measure it.

"They've got an infrared gun that looks like a small pistol. You pull a trigger on it and aim it at what you are looking at, and aim it until a little red dot shows up and where that red dot touches will give you a temperature reading. If you watch real carefully, you'll see team guys along pit road using them. They just pretty much walk around with one of those, and they'll use them for a lot of things. You usually have to be within three or four feet of the surface you are measuring. At least a couple of the crew guys on each team have them. They usually carry them in their pockets. They point them, pull the trigger and read the temperature that pops up on a display. They are pretty accurate. The can check areas on the race cars themselves, and a lot of guys use them to check tire temperatures as well. You can use them to get brake rotor temperatures to make sure your brake balance is correct with the right amount of front balance and rear balance.

Will the new Roush/Yates engine combo package be a constant from now on?

"I can't answer that. We had one at Charlotte last week. The motor is really good. We knew that right away. We didn't get through the corner like we needed to in qualifying trim. We had a brand-new car at Charlotte that we ran without testing and it's got a few bugs that we had to work out. But the motor combination definitely has some get up and go to it. We just need to be able to get the cars through the corners to take advantage of it. The Fords have been getting beaten on the straightaways. And, this is a combination that has been needed. I know some of the Ford guys have had some good runs, but most of the time it wasn't because of an extreme straightaway speed. It's always an ongoing process. If you had good power three months ago, you can't sit on it. That will become mediocre power in three months at best. The motor guys are always looking for more. I think they had pretty much reached the limits with what they had to deal with. This has just opened up some new doors for some of the things they need to do without being limited with the parts they had to deal with. So it should be good thing."

In 1983 you raced in three Busch Series races and won at Dover. Those are your only three Busch Series starts. Why did you race in only three races that year and why are those your only three Busch Series starts?

"When we ran for the Diegard Team, they had a Busch car and we ran a couple races. And then Emanual Zervakis came along. He had had a very good short-track driver, Butch Lindley, and they parted ways. He called me up and wanted to know if I would drive his car. We ran a couple with him and won the race at the Dover with him. It was a good car. If I remember correctly, we actually won our first NASCAR race driving for him. At that time the Busch deal for me was a distraction. The information didn't carry over then and you were hopping back and forth between garages, and I was concerned it might interfere with what was going on with the Cup team. And, I didn't want to do anything that might affect my performance on the Cup side. Since then the Busch rules have gotten closer to the Cup cars."