Ricky Rudd's best finish at Martinsville for the Wood Brothers was seventh earlier this year. Credit: Autostock

Rudd out to bring home a win for Wood Brothers

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- If Sunday's Subway 500 is his last time at Martinsville Speedway with the Virginia-based Wood Brothers, fellow Virginian Ricky Rudd would like it to be on a winning note.

Rudd certainly raised some eyebrows with his performance during Friday's practice and qualifying. His lap of 97.992 mph was second to Tony Stewart's record-setting run of 98.084, meaning Rudd will start on the outside of the front row.

	Qualifying Results Pos. Driver Speed Time 1. T. Stewart 98.084 19.306 2. R. Rudd 97.992 19.324 3. R. Wallace 97.931 19.336 4. R. Newman 97.911 19.340 5. D. Hamlin 97.835 19.355 Complete Lineup: click here

"This car has run good right off the truck," Rudd said. "We came here a couple of weeks ago and ran right at 700 laps in two days [in] a Goodyear tire test.

"We didn't get a chance to try anything we wanted to but we came back and confirmed that the car we had here last race worked really good."

That hasn't always been the case for this team. The Woods have eight poles and two wins at Martinsville, just down the street from their hometown of Stuart, Va. However, the last time the No. 21 was No. 1 at the flat half-mile was with David Pearson behind the wheel -- in 1973.

"[Crew chief] Fatback McSwain's record has always been pretty good at this racetrack and my record's been pretty good," Rudd said. "I think that's it, coupled together with what the Wood Brothers give us to get it done and the Yates engines.

"The combination is there. It's up to us to go out there and get it tweaked to get the car competitive."

Inside the Numbers Ricky Rudd at Martinsville Category No. Starts 52 Wins 3 Top-5 13 Top-10 20 DNF 11 Poles 4 Avg. Start 11.1 Avg. Finish 15.0 ALSO •   Ricky Rudd Driver Page •   Wood Brothers Team Page •   Store: Ricky Rudd gear!

Rudd was certainly competitive the last time the Nextel Cup Series visited Martinsville. His seventh-place finish was the best for the Wood Brothers since Morgan Shepherd brought the No. 21 home fifth in 1994.

"The car's continued to get better as the year's gone on," Rudd said. "This is the car we ran seventh at Martinsville earlier in the year. We got hemmed up in traffic at the end. We probably had a fourth-place car and wound up seventh.

"It's the same car and same tire. Not a whole lot has changed. Hopefully, you get a little wiser as the year progresses."

Rudd's future with the team is still up in the air. Motorcraft won't be back as primary sponsor, and the Woods may not have the funding required to run a full schedule in 2006. Rudd was noncommittal Friday.

"We're working on things as we speak, so we'll see," he said. "It's just not time to announce anything right now."