1on1: Len Wood

Wood Brothers Racing has been around NASCAR since nearly the beginning.

Founded in 1953 by Glen Wood, the operation is now run by sons Len and Eddie Wood, with a large helping hand from daughter Kim Hall. The organization's last Sprint Cup Series victory came at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2001, when Elliott Sadler drove the famous No. 21 car that once was piloted by the likes of David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Neil Bonnett and Buddy Baker to Victory Lane.

Len Wood talked with NASCAR.COM about Sadler's victory, the team's struggles in recent years, and the third-place finish registered by part-time driver Marcos Ambrose in the No. 21 Ford recently at Watkins Glen.

Q: Some of Wood Brothers Racing's greatest success has come at Bristol. Why do you guys like the place so much?

Wood: Bristol is close to home. Our home is in Stuart, Va., so being near there is always nice. We won in 2001 with Elliott Sadler. That was the race where with about 160-something to go, we pitted and took tires and fuel. Then they kept having caution after caution. We found after about 30 laps, we were in like second place. So we decided, hey, the tires weren't wearing, it's going to come down to if we can make it on fuel.

It turned out Kevin Harvick had a flat tire or something with about 60 to go, and we took over the lead, and just kind of stayed out there. They kept having caution after caution. We were all like, 'What's the next restart gonna bring?' It wound up that we won the race -- and ironically, the car that followed us across the start-finish line was the 43, kind of reminiscent of the Pearson-Petty days. John Andretti was driving it, but that was the car we beat that day. That was special for us to be competing against the 43, as well, because we've always got along good with Dale Inman, Richard [Petty], Kyle [Petty] and those guys. So that race was pretty special for us.

Q: Can there be a race like that at Bristol again? It seems like they've changed the track -- and the car -- to where there isn't as much banging and aren't as many cautions. How much has Bristol changed?

Wood: They changed the concrete. I think we've had two races on it. It's more parabolic, it's more side-by-side, there may be less passing, I'm not sure ... but it will still be about track position, it will still be about strategy. It's just like a road race. You work a road race backwards. When you know you can stop, you stop as quick as you know you can make it to the end. Then you hope the caution falls when nobody else has stopped, and then you have track position. No matter where we go, track position always is important. (Continued)