Kevin Harvick could very well be turning into not-so-happy Harvick any time now.
The 2021 season hasn’t been all too kind to the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, who accomplished a series-best nine victories in 2020. Through eight races, Harvick has yet to reach Victory Lane, which is fine considering there have been a series of rather surprising early winners (Michael McDowell and Christopher Bell among them). But still a less-than-ideal start for the 2014 champion.
To get the fast facts out of the way, courtesy of Racing Insights:
No wins in the last 15 races – longest streak since 2018-19 (21 races)
No laps led in the last seven races – longest streak since 2017 (also seven races)
No top-five finishes in the last five races – longest streak since 2019 (eight races)
No stage points in last three races – longest streak ever
Harvick’s best run so far is a fourth-place result in the season-opening Daytona 500. He then placed sixth on the Daytona Road Course and fifth at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Since then, Harvick hasn’t finished within the top-five field. He was 20th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, peaked at Phoenix Raceway with another sixth-place showing and has since come in 10th at Atlanta Motor Speedway, 15th on Bristol Motor Speedway’s dirt and ninth at Martinsville Speedway.
All that puts Harvick eighth in the current standings at 253 points. Denny Hamlin, who also has yet to win this season, leads the way with 379 points.
Eighth marks Harvick’s lowest rank since 2019, but that was only after he placed 26th in the season opener and wound up 13th in the standings because of it. After the second race, he was already back up to second. He never again dropped below fifth in the standings.
So, 2019 doesn’t really hold a strong comparison here.
Technically, Harvick has been ranked outside the top five for five weeks now. After his Las Vegas flop, he fell from second to seventh. He stayed there for two weeks, moved up to sixth for one, only to move back down to eighth for the past two weeks.
The 2018 schedule was the last one to see Harvick ranked outside the top five for more than a week. He was eighth in Week 5 and seventh in Week 6. But then he never went below fourth.
Still no strong comparison.
In 2017, there was a nine-week span early in the season when Harvick ranged from sixth to 10th in the standings. That’s probably the best, most recent comparison to his current situation. He had an even worse fate at Las Vegas (38th) in the third event that set him back, and then he bounced in and out of the top 10 in the following races. Once he dug himself out of the hole, Harvick only missed the top five in standings three times and ultimately finished third overall at season’s end anyway.
Obviously, Harvick has a knack for turning poor standings around. Besides, eighth really isn’t bad. Neither is 11th, which is where he sits in the provisional playoff standings after the seven different winners and Hamlin, Chase Elliott and Brad Keselowski. His current status is just a bit shocking after the season of dominance he turned in a year ago.
That could easily change Sunday at Richmond Raceway (3 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). It’s Harvick’s best venue when it comes to top-10 finishes (15 overall; 12 in the last 14 races) and second-best in top fives (15). He averages a 9.7 finish at the .75-mile Virginia track – good for his fifth-best – and has won three races there (2006, 2011 and 2013; tied for fourth-most for him).
Harvick isn’t the best active driver at Richmond – that would be Kyle Busch and his six wins – but he’s surely up there. Harvick’s win and top-five total are second only to Busch. His average finish is third best, behind Busch and Hamlin. His top-10 tally leads all.
While another top-10 finish isn’t the worst outcome possible – he has six, which is tied for second-most overall right now – it surely won’t turn Harvick’s 2021 frown upside down.
The next stop on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule takes teams to Richmond Raceway for Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Before all the on-track action, there are many things you should know. Take a look at the rundown.
WHO’S ON THE POLE?
Martin Truex Jr. leads the field to green Sunday in Richmond, earning his first Busch Pole Award of the season after outpacing Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin in the Final Stage to secure his third win in the last four trips to Martinsville.
Looking for redemption? Hamlin has his chance this weekend, starting alongside Truex on the front row. Chase Elliott, William Byron, Joey Logano and Kyle Larson complete the first three rows. See the full Toyota Owners 400 starting lineup.
The Joe Gibbs Racing battle between short-track standouts even has oddsmakers invested in the potential Martinsville ‘rematch’. Truex’s 4-1 series-leading odds to win Sunday narrowly edge out Hamlin who slides in at 6-1.
But don’t sleep on last year’s Richmond winner, Brad Keselowski, who dominated the show in 2020 by leading 192 laps. The No. 2 Team Penske wheelman sits just behind the leaders at 13-2.
Based on recent track trends, Austin Dillon, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch each present good value. Full list of BetMGM Richmond odds.
The NASCAR rules package for short tracks will be in effect with a tapered spacer used to set a target of 750 horsepower. The cars will use a reduced downforce package with a shorter spoiler, a shorter splitter overhang and other aerodynamic changes.
GOODYEAR TIRES
Cup Series teams have nine sets of Goodyear Eagle Speedway Radials for the 300-mile marathon at Richmond. Due to the high wear nature of the track, four tires and maintaining track position is even more crucial at every opportunity.
“Richmond has emerged as a high wear track over the past decade as the track surface has aged,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “As that has happened, it has given us some great racing. Even though Richmond is technically a short track, the cars carry a great deal of speed. You add in the fact that the surface wears tires and you end up having a race with multiple grooves and a lot of passing throughout the field. That makes Richmond a very popular track for both drivers and fans.”
Recommended tire inflation is 12 psi for the left side tires, 30 psi for the right front and 27 psi for the right rear.
RICHMOND FAST FACTS
— Since its inaugural race in 1953, Richmond Raceway has hosted a Cup Series race every year since 1955 and Sunday marks the 129th. — Joe Gibbs Racing has dominated recent history at Richmond, winning four of the last five races and seven of the last 10.
— Two of the last three Richmond races had a green flag stretch of 148 or more laps to finish the race.
— In the last 12 races at Richmond, the race winner has started inside the top 10 all but two times.
Another week means another chance to beat the competition and show off your NASCAR instincts. Take control of your very own team each week with NASCAR Fantasy Live — it’s free to play! Learn everything you need to know at fantasygames.nascar.com.
The 2021 fantasy points leaders are Denny Hamlin (379), Martin Truex Jr. (303) and Joey Logano (295).
ALSO ON NASCAR.COM
Get additional camera views by logging on to NASCAR Drive, where each week a select number of in-car cameras will be available – as well as a battle cam and an overhead look.
New for this season, NASCAR has partnered with LiveLike to add fan engagement in the NASCAR Mobile App. Log in to the mobile app during the race for polls, quizzes, the cheer meter and more – and see instant results from NASCAR fans like you.
Gaunt Brothers Racing announced Thursday that Harrison Burton is scheduled to make his NASCAR Cup Series debut April 25 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Burton is in his second full season with Joe Gibbs Racing’s efforts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, where he has four career wins — all recorded last season on his way to Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors. The 20-year-old driver currently ranks third in the series standings.
Burton is the son of former racer and current NBC Sports analyst Jeff Burton, who collected 21 Cup Series wins and 27 Xfinity Series victories in his career.
DEX Imaging will sponsor the Marty Gaunt-owned entry at the 2.66-mile Alabama track. The race weekend will also mark Burton’s 50th career start in the Xfinity Series.
“I’m incredibly grateful to DEX Imaging and Toyota for providing this opportunity with Gaunt Brothers Racing,” Burton said in the team’s news release. “From the moment I started racing, the Cup Series was always the goal. In everything I’ve done, I’ve been working toward this moment. I saw how hard my dad worked to get to Cup and how hard he worked to compete and win races. He instilled that same work ethic in me and I’m just really proud and honored to have the chance to do what he did and compete with the best of the best.”
The No. 96 team has made two starts this season, both with Ty Dillon behind the wheel. Gaunt Brothers Racing failed to qualify for the season-opening Daytona 500 but raced at Daytona’s road course and Bristol Motor Speedway’s dirt-track event.
“We’re proud to represent such an innovative brand in DEX Imaging and equally proud to have Harrison make his first NASCAR Cup Series start with us,” team president Marty Gaunt said. “As a Toyota team, we’ve seen firsthand how well Harrison has developed. He’s been racing and winning in Toyotas for years, and yet he’s still only 20 years old. He has a very bright future ahead of him and we aim to make his Cup Series debut a successful one.”
For all but a small handful of NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regulars, competition at this week’s Richmond Raceway is a new skillset. Among the regular-season championship contenders, only Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter have multiple previous starts at the 0.75-mile track, which is hosting the ToyotaCare 250 Saturday (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
There was robust competition at Richmond in the Camping World Truck Series for a decade (1995-2005), and the series returned to race there again last year, with Grant Enfinger earning a 1.033-second victory over Crafton, a three-time series champ.
Enfinger will be in a Toyota Tundra this week, and the make is working on a perfect season with victories in all five races to date – the second time in three years that has happened to start the season.
Championship points leader John Hunter Nemechek, who won his first race with Kyle Busch Motorsports at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March, leads the standings by six points over two-race winner Ben Rhodes. They are the only two full-time championship contenders with wins. NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Busch (Atlanta Motor Speedway) and Martin Truex Jr. (Bristol Motor Speedway dirt) have won the last two events.
It has been two full weeks since the Trucks last raced – at Bristol – and it’s fair to say drivers are highly anticipating this week’s short-track battle.
Beyond Nemechek’s slim six-point advantage over Rhodes, reigning series champion Sheldon Creed is only 21 points back. Crafton is fourth in the standings, 40 points back, followed by Stewart Friesen (-53) and perennial favorite Austin Hill (-55), who has climbed back into contention after a rough season start.
The series’ all-time winningest driver, Busch (60 career wins), will be making his third start of the season at Richmond and, like most of the field, racing for his first career series win there. Busch, owner-driver of the No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota, has two previous Richmond truck starts, finishing 22nd in 2001 and crashing out (30th place) in 2005.
The odds certainly favor a robust course correction, though. Busch has a record six NASCAR Xfinity Series wins there – three times from pole position. He has another six NASCAR Cup Series victories at Richmond coupled with seven runner-up finishes – 13 of his 30 starts.
While the Kyle Busch Motorsports organization certainly brings momentum to Richmond – its drivers have won the last three races of 2021 – Enfinger’s ThorSport Racing team proved last year it’s up for the challenge.
ThorSport Racing’s trucks swept the race with Enfinger winning, Crafton finishing second and Rhodes coming home third – the trio combining to lead 109 laps, nearly half the 250-lap total.
Defending race winner Enfinger is currently set to run only a partial schedule with ThorSport this season, making a second straight win at Richmond this week all the more crucial.
“We are taking the same truck that we ran there last year – same basic set-up, same tires – so hopefully we can duplicate the result,” Enfinger said. “Obviously things are going to be different with it being a daytime race. I feel like it’s going to be a little bit slicker out there with hopefully a little bit of sunshine on Saturday. I’m looking forward to it.”
Martin Truex Jr. became the first driver to score multiple wins in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season with a big victory last week at Martinsville Speedway. As the NASCAR Cup Series stays in the state for Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway (3 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) a certain Virginian couldn’t be more motivated to hoist his first trophy of the year.
Denny Hamlin – who was raised in Chesterfield, Virginia, about a half-hour drive from the Richmond track – has already turned in a competitive season for the ages. And we’re only eight races into the NASCAR calendar.
He’s scored a series-high seven top-five finishes – more than he earned in three previous full seasons and twice that of all drivers but Kyle Larson (four top fives). A top five this week would tie Hamlin’s career-best streak of six consecutive. His No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has led a series-best 487 laps, and Hamlin holds a commanding 76-point lead on Truex, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, in the points standings.
The only thing left to do for the perennial championship contender is score that first victory of the year.
Hamlin, 40, is especially good at the 0.75-mile Richmond track with three trophies there as proof. His driver rating is third best – behind his JGR teammate, six-time winner Kyle Busch and three-time winner Kevin Harvick.
All three of these Richmond masters and annual title favorites, however, are also looking for their first victory of 2021.
Busch, driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, among active drivers has a series-best six Richmond victories and a series-high seven more runner-up finishes – meaning he won or finished second in nearly half (13 of 30) of his NASCAR Cup Series starts at the track. Furthermore, his 16 short-track victories are easily tops in the series among drivers entered this weekend. Hamlin and Busch’s older brother Kurt are next with 10 short-track wins.
The two-time series champion Kyle Busch arrives in Richmond, however, 11th in points with only a pair of top-five and four top-10 finishes on the season with no shortage of motivation.
Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford, similarly, shows up at Richmond more than ready to right his team’s ship as well. He’s a three-time winner at the track and his 26 top-10 finishes in 39 starts ranks best among active drivers. He ranks first or second in five of the six pre-race Loop Data statistical categories. His 7.210 average running position, 93 percent of laps run in the top-15 and 972 quality passes leads the field.
Interestingly, seven of the 10 active drivers with previous short-track victories are still looking for a win this season. And last year’s Richmond playoff winner Brad Keselowski is among that group. Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott is as well.
With so many of the sport’s best more than ready to get that first trophy of the year and a sure-bet playoff berth, there’s good reason to expect a chippy afternoon at Richmond. And these drivers say they are prepared for that.
“A lot of times there are still a lot of guys who don’t apply [the notion of “give-and-take”] and they wind up getting themselves in trouble – tearing their cars up and putting themselves in a bad spot,” the 2014 champion Harvick said. “I think part of our success is being able to race like that when we need to race like that and understanding how that works.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (April 15, 2021) – Womply, a leading small business solutions provider and local commerce platform that helps small businesses access the PPP program, enters NASCAR as the presenting sponsor of the 2021 Triple Truck Challenge Presented by Womply.
Now in its third season, “The Trip” consists of three consecutive NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races, beginning at Darlington Raceway on May 7 (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1), where drivers compete for an additional $50,000 bonus for winning a race. If a driver wins multiple events, the bonus money increases up to $500,000 for sweeping all three races. The Trip continues at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, May 22 (1 p.m. ET on FS1) and concludes at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, May 28 (8:30 p.m. ET on FS1).
“As the leader in helping small businesses access the PPP program, Womply has a timely mission to reach NASCAR’s audience,” said Jeff Wohlschlaeger, NASCAR’s vice president and chief sales officer. “With NASCAR’s brand-loyal fan base and the plethora of small and micro business involvement in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in particular, the Triple Truck Challenge is a perfect fit for Womply as presenting sponsor.”
During the 2021 Triple Truck Challenge Presented by Womply, the brand will be integrated throughout the program at track, on broadcast and across digital and social media. Through this agreement, Womply will highlight its PPP Fast Lane product, which assists small businesses and self-employed workers with PPP loan applications.
“Womply believes that when small businesses win, we all win,” said Womply Founder and CEO Toby Scammell. “We identified a problem in that millions of self-employed Americans simply don’t know they qualify for PPP. We solved that with the simplicity of PPP Fast Lane and our partnership with NASCAR strategically enables us to reach a demographically and geographically diverse audience.”
Womply leads in helping small businesses and self-employed workers with their loan applications to secure PPP loans through the various lenders. The company is focused on ensuring access and prioritization of all loan sizes to all small business and self-employed workers. PPP Fast Lane is a simple, web-based data collection process aiming to simplify the PPP process by removing friction that only applies to larger businesses. PPP Fast Lane includes multiple layers of fraud prevention and identity verification, which is essential to serving PPP loans at scale in accordance with government rules.
About Womply
Womply’s mission is to help local businesses thrive in a digital world. Founded in 2011, Womply is a local commerce platform that provides apps, APIs, marketing, and financial tools to make local commerce happen for over 500,000 American businesses and their customers. All of Womply’s products and services are powered by the Womply Commerce Graph, a proprietary data asset that offers the most complete view of local commerce. To learn more, visit www.womply.com or email [email protected].
Those who knew her have said the late Betty Jane France was kind, classy and generous with her time, but it was her ability to bring those same qualities out in others that helped grow The NASCAR Foundation into the success that it is today. On Thursday, The NASCAR Foundation celebrated its 15th anniversary and did it on the birthday of its founder and chairwoman emeritus, Mrs. France.
The day featured a virtual Town Hall Meeting with Lesa France Kennedy, Ben Kennedy and Mike Helton. This esteemed leadership group shared admiration for the work The NASCAR Foundation is doing as it continues Mrs. France’s legacy of helping children.
Since being founded in 2006, The NASCAR Foundation has raised nearly $40 million to impact the lives of more than 1.4 million kids in NASCAR-served communities. Over the years, two of the pillars of The NASCAR Foundation have been the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award and the Speediatrics Children’s Fund.
Each year, four finalists are selected and then voted upon for the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award. With the award hitting the 10-year milestone in 2020, there have been 40 finalists who have earned more than 625,000 votes cast in the contest. The NASCAR Foundation has contributed $1,770,000 to children’s charities represented by award finalists over that time, and those charities have been able to serve the needs of 354,647 children.
Joe Vaughn of the South Carolina-based Project HOPE Foundation and winner of the 2019 Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award talked about what his group has done with the $100,000 grant money within the autism community it serves.
“We used the funds to support our largest program, which is our Applied Behavior Analysis therapy program,” Vaughn said. “ABA Therapy is the best way we know to help children with autism, working one-on-one with each child 25-40 hours every week. Your contribution provided the opportunities for children to say their first words after years of silence, for families to experience their first meal together without a major meltdown, for hope to enter into the lives of the hundreds we serve.”
Charlene Greer, a volunteer at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Volusia/Flagler counties in Florida and winner of the 2020 Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award, said the $100,000 helped the clubs keep operating in a safe and socially distanced way during the COVID-19 pandemic, making it possible to provide services and a safe haven for 1,600 kids in the community.
The impact the clubs are having was particularly evident to Greer when she heard a young man lead a prayer at a February meeting in Deltona, Florida, when volunteers were allowed back in the clubs under socially distanced guidelines.
“He said, ‘Miss Charlene, thank you so much for everything, we love you guys,’” Greer said. “And then I asked him, ‘Will you say the prayer for us today before we have our afternoon snack?’ Which he gladly did. And as he was praying, he said, ‘Thank you God for letting us have a safe place to go, and please God keep us all safe and that no one else in our neighborhood will be shot.’”
These types of stories hit at the heart of what The NASCAR Foundation has stood for during its first 15 years. It’s also the need to help children that is the basis for what’s behind the Speediatrics Children’s Fund.
Mrs. France’s vision was to bring the colors and spirit of NASCAR into the pediatric inpatient unit at Halifax Health in Daytona Beach, Florida, in order to provide an environment more conducive to healing. That thought led to the fund’s birth.
Since then, the Speediatrics Children’s Fund has supported needs expressed by hospitals, specialty clinics, camps and others providing children’s medical and health care services. And by partnering with organizations in the delivery of pediatric services to fund resources critically needed to deliver high-quality care to needy children, the fund has impacted the lives of more than 750,000 children.
In addition, the Speediatrics Children’s Fund’s vision has expanded into NASCAR racing communities through the Foundation’s Speediatrics Fun Day Festival program aimed at inspiring children to live healthy lives through the lens of NASCAR. During the festivals usually held around race weekends at a particular track, NASCAR drivers have competed with kids in fun games like the tire roll, or crew members jumping rope with kids. The program started in three markets in 2017 and is set to expand into eight markets during 2021.
So, whether you are eager to donate and help kids in your community, looking for the next Speediatrics Fun Day Festival you could attend or wanting to read about and recognize some of the great people in the NASCAR community, head over to The NASCAR Foundation’s website and join in on the anniversary celebration.
Richard Lee “Ricky” Rudd was only 12 years old when he decided what his life’s work would be.
While taking a fan bus tour around the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Rudd, who was in Indiana’s capital city to compete in the national go-kart championship, was in awe of the 300,000-plus seat temple of auto racing.
“I made up my mind right then and there,” Rudd said, prophesizing he’d one day return to IMS as a star race car driver and win there.
In an Indy car, that is.
“Turns out it was in a stock car,” the now 64-year-old Rudd laughed in a recent interview with NASCAR.com. “When you’re used to open wheels like go-karts, I guess the natural migration is to Indy cars. I knew about Indy cars, I knew about Formula One, but I didn’t know anything about stock car racing.”
Although raised in NASCAR country — Rudd hails from Chesapeake, Virginia, the son of a local auto parts store owner — he didn’t start thinking about racing stock cars until he was nearly 18 years old. From the age of 4, he had been all about go-kart and motocross racing.
But from the day Rudd made his Cup debut in 1975 at North Carolina Speedway — finished a respectable 11th, albeit 56 laps down — it was all NASCAR, all the time from that point on for the next 32 years.
Indy car racing’s loss was NASCAR’s big gain. Rudd would go on to win 23 Cup races in his career, finished in the top 10 in all but two seasons from 1979 through 1996, and was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.
Oh yeah, and he fulfilled his prophecy of one day winning at IMS, capturing the 1997 Brickyard 400. But for those who think NASCAR racing is all about glamour and big parties after big wins, Rudd threw cold water on that image.
“After winning the Brickyard, we were sitting in a Steak-and-Shake, eating a hamburger and getting ready to drive up to Michigan for a test the next day,” he chuckled. “So you don’t get a chance to sort of smell the roses along the way. And so in that respect, time just sort of flies by. That’s the thing I didn’t like about racing that I’m able to enjoy now.”
The 1977 Winston Cup Rookie of the Year is living a life now totally opposite to what he lived for more than three decades of racing. For the last 13-plus years, he’s been on no one’s schedule but his own, doesn’t have to run from one appearance or meeting or race to another, and smelling the roses includes enjoying some of the simplest things in life — like daily morning coffee with Linda, his wife of 45 years.
“It probably took me a good 10 years to sort of get racing out of my system,” Rudd said. “It just is something that’s there. It was there when I was four years old. I remember getting in a go-kart on an old abandoned runway and just going like crazy fast then and it’s never left.
“You sort of learn how to deal with it. Parts of it I miss, some of it I don’t miss. What I probably do today I enjoy the most is just having an easy day, starting the day off just Linda and I, we go grab a cup of coffee and just sit down. She’s got her day going and I got mine going and we sort of meet back up. My days are mine these days.”
Many of those days are spent with a steering wheel of a different sort in his hands.
“I got back into flying about six years ago,” Rudd said. “I got my pilot’s license when I was pretty young, back in the ’80s. Then I got instrument rated, multi-engine instrument rated, and got my seaplane rating a couple years ago, which I always wanted to do.”
And in much the same fearless way he piloted a race car around Daytona or Talladega at 200 mph, Rudd has somewhat of a daredevil streak still within.
“Right now, I enjoy doing mountain flying, trying bush pilot type stuff, getting in and out of these small runways in the mountains,” he said. “That sort of gets my attention because you have to have 100 percent focus like racing was. You have to pay very close attention and the picture’s changing all the time when you’re going into a small mountain airport. You don’t have time for a second chance, you’ve got to get it right the first time. That sort of holds my interest now.”
Rudd went back to his love of go-kart racing back in 2014 and competed for several years, including finishing third in the points in 2015 in the top-level class against tough competition including former NASCAR driver Lake Speed, current driver Justin Marks (who owns the track near Charlotte) and IndyCar racer Will Power.
Rudd backed off karting the last couple years, but admits he misses the competition and camaraderie. “It may be time to revisit that,” he laughed. “It’s kind of crazy. I’ll go back and revisit things I did three or four years ago, and pick it right back up, saying, ‘Man, this was fun. I forgot how much fun I was having doing it.’ ”
RacingOne
Rudd made 906 career starts in the NASCAR Cup Series, earning the nickname of “NASCAR’s Iron Man” for a record 788 consecutive starts from 1981 through the 2005 season (since broken in 2015 by Jeff Gordon). He likely would have extended that streak had he not sat out the entire 2006 season by choice (with the exception of one race, replacing the injured Tony Stewart).
“I think it was just born into me, the character, my family, dedication and just not giving up, learning how to never give up,” Rudd said of his iron man persona. “That’s the only way I can explain it.
“I think you live off the motivation of remembering those days. … It just sort of gets programmed in you, that there’s a big reward at the end of the day if I can get to Victory Lane.”
At the age of 51, the final race of Rudd’s career — the 2007 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway — also marked the final time he’d ever physically be in a NASCAR paddock.
He’s stayed away ever since, by choice.
“No, I’ve not been back to a single one (NASCAR track or race),” he said. “The only race tracks I’ve been to are some go-kart tracks. What would I do if I went back? Nobody would know me.
“I remember late in my career, I was sitting in the back of the truck in the garage and in came Bud Moore, David Pearson and somebody else. They were walking around the garage area. They came up, spent some time with me in the truck. They were looking for someone who would talk to them. I guess I was one of the few who remembered them and we just had a heck of a good conversation, really enjoyed speaking with those guys.
“As soon as they left, two or three crew members on our team come up said, ‘Hey, Ricky, who are those guys? Were they in racing at one time?’ I’m thinking, ‘Man, how sad that is, that the people in a sport don’t really remember or recognize someone that was in front of them. What would I do at a race track? I probably would stay away just for that reason. I would be so lost. I wouldn’t know anybody to talk to so what do you do?
“Sometimes it seems like maybe did I really ever live that life, did I do that for 30 some years, because it seems like it’s been so long. And then you adapt and move into another lifestyle change and you adapt to that. In a lot of ways it almost seems like that (I) was a different character back then. It was such a rat race, I mean, the years just flew by.”
Even though it’s at a distance, Rudd still remains a NASCAR fan.
“It’s not that you don’t probably enjoy watching it, but you sort of step aside and you put that lifestyle behind you,” he said.
“I know Bobby Labonte’s having a great time running modified cars, but to me, that is the farthest thing from my mind. You know, I feel like if I couldn’t get the things I wanted to accomplish done in 30 years of racing, then an old guy like me, I’m certainly not going to be able to do it now. So, you sort of refocus your interests.”
But Rudd admits he misses one thing in particular from his racing days.
“The thing I miss the most are the people,” he said. “I really miss them.”
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Rudd never won a Cup championship, but did finish second in 1991, behind Dale Earnhardt, who earned the fifth of his eventual seven Cup championships.
Overall, in his 32 years on the Cup circuit, Rudd had five top-five season finishes and 18 top-10 final showings.
He also drove for some of the most iconic team owners in NASCAR history, including Richard Childress, Junie Donlavey, Bud Moore, Rick Hendrick, Robert Yates and the Wood Brothers.
While his Brickyard 400 win remains his top single race memory, winning the 1992 IROC championship will always be No. 1 on Rudd’s own personal career highlight film.
“It was one of my fondest memories, beating guys from other series and divisions like IndyCar drivers Al Unser Jr. and Arie Luyendyk,” Rudd said. “The last race of that season, I had to beat Earnhardt. If he beat me, he won the championship. If I beat him, I won it.
“It came down to about four or five laps to go. I was just sort of playing with him at the end of the race. It’s actually probably the most thrill I ever got at a race, in the late stages of a race and having to move by him without getting wrecked and getting by and winning and beating him for the championship.”
As one might expect from having such an illustrious career, Rudd has received a number of accolades for his racing exploits. He was 2006 Virginian of the Year, was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, the Hampton Roads Sports Hall of Fame in 2010 and the Daytona Beach Stock Car Hall of Fame in 2014.
He even was featured as himself in 2013 in the second season of the revival TV show Dallas, in scenes filmed at Texas Motor Speedway.
But one distinction continues to elude him: being named to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. He’s been nominated each of the last two years but has come up short both times.
“It just hasn’t gone my way,” Rudd said. “I’ve just never sort of made the final cut.”
But he has hopes his time will come soon, a fitting recognition for a career well done.
“I’m getting now where my credentials are stacking up pretty good with the guys that got in last time,” he said. “We’ll see, who knows? I mean, is it the end of the world? No. I mean, basically, I’ve sort of moved on but I would still love to be honored in that way.”
Then, Rudd added a coda of how he’d describe his career and how he’d like to be remembered:
“Hey, I had my day and it was a lot of fun. It’s more than a job, people don’t quite understand that it’s less of a job and more of a lifestyle. I enjoyed that lifestyle. But you know, I can enjoy my lifestyle now, too. So just a lot of good friends and memories that I wouldn’t trade for anything.”
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The Ricky Rudd file:
* Age: 64
* Hometown: Chesapeake, Va. Has lived in suburban Charlotte for more than four decades.
* 1977 Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year
* NASCAR Cup career: 906 starts (including a then-record of 788 consecutive starts), 23 wins, 194 top-five and 374 top-10 finishes. Also 29 poles.
* Best NASCAR season finish: 1991 (finished second in the standings with 29 starts, 1 win, 9 top-five, 17 top-10 finishes)
* Best overall NASCAR season statistically: 2001 (2 wins, 14 top-five and 22 top-10 finishes; finished fourth in the standings)
* Biggest career wins: 1997 Brickyard 400 and 1992 IROC championship
* IROC career: 17 starts, 0 wins, 10 top-five and 16 top-10 finishes; won championship in his first year in the series (1992)
Any time a JR Motorsports driver wins a race, the entire organization comes together to celebrate the accomplishment. The win flag goes up. Beers are toasted.
That tradition includes its late-model program.
Well, Josh Berry has been a part of the team for more than a decade and is responsible for 86 late-model wins.
“We used to do the beer toast,” JR Motorsports co-owner Kelley Earnhardt Miller told NASCAR.com. “But dang, when you win every weekend, it gets to be a little out of hand.”
Safe to say Berry’s name is well known around the JR Motorsports complex. If somehow it wasn’t, it’s bound to be now.
Last Sunday, with the culmination of the Xfinity Series’ rain-postponed event at Martinsville Speedway, Berry won his first NASCAR national series race. The victory came in his sixth of 12 planned starts this year in the No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.
The part-time deal was presented after Berry won the 2020 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series championship for JR Motorsports’ late-model team. Before this season, Berry hadn’t driven a Xfinity Series car for JR Motorsports since 2016.
“I felt like I was almost facing a near-impossible task, going straight from a late model into a Xfinity car,” Berry said. “At times, I felt that pressure and I felt that, I guess, difficulty trying to make that move that I have. Now, to have won, I think it really shows how good the people I’ve been racing are and how ready I was for the opportunity.”
Between the 2014-16 season, Berry raced in five Xfinity Series events for JR Motorsports – highlighted by a seventh-place finish at Richmond Raceway in 2015. Otherwise, he placed ninth, 12th, 13th and 25th.
Then, nothing. Berry returned to late models.
“To be honest, I kind of felt like at that point maybe I was just going to be a career short-track racer,” Berry said. “Lots of victories, lots of championships at that level. I thought maybe that’s what was going to be my path, maybe that’s what I was meant to do.”
And he was OK with that. Berry never felt like his time was wasted in the late-model ranks. He was still learning and having fun – on top of being successful.
He taught others how to be successful, too. Berry is a mentor in the JR Motorsports’ driver development program. The late-model team has two cars, so Berry would pilot one and help his teammate adjust to the other. Berry has worked with current NASCAR Cup Series drivers William Byron and Anthony Alfredo, along with Camping World Truck Series driver Christian Eckes. Berry even assisted Sam Mayer, who will take over the No. 8 entry in the Xfinity Series later this summer after Berry’s time is up.
“Others can see how good our program is and see why it’s good: because Josh is a part of the program,” Earnhardt Miller said. “… Sure, he’s wanted to be William Byron. He’s wanted to move up. But to sit and be patient in that position just says a lot about who he really is and how grounded he is.”
Said Berry: “Being 30 years old with a family, you have to look at those things and you can’t necessarily pout because you have to step aside at times and teach these guys. You got to enjoy the opportunity to learn and better yourself because you never know what’s ahead.”
Berry has six more Xfinity Series starts with JR Motorsports left in 2021. The goal for this season was to win a race – check that off the to-do list. He’d now like another win. Preferably at a 1.5-mile track to show he’s capable on intermediates, not just the short tracks he’s familiar with from his late-model experience. Maybe even longer; his next race is at the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway on April 24 (4 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
After this stint is over, Berry will continue to race late models when and where he can.
There’s the future to consider, though. A full-time ride within NASCAR for 2022 is the goal. Berry would like to remain with JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series, and the team has expressed the same desire. How that would work remains unknown, as the organization debates whether it wants to break into the Cup Series. In the meantime, Berry is trying to secure sponsorship by performing his best with the opportunity he has been given.
“I just really enjoy racing – the competition of it, all the people and relationships that you build along the way,” Berry said. “It’s just what’s I’ve always known really. Even if I wasn’t driving, I can’t imagine myself not being involved in motorsports.”
For the first time, a NASCAR race car roared on an ice track.
It happened at Val Thorens, France. on March 26 when NASCAR Whelen Euro Series organizer Team FJ took one of its 1225 Kg / 400 Hp EuroNASCAR cars to the mountains to complete a full day of testing on ice.
The result?
A unique milestone and a resounding success.
After impressing fans and many top drivers on the best European tracks – from Brands Hatch to Valencia, from Hockenheim to Zolder – and all over the world: at the Daytona Road Course, at the Goodwood FOS Hillclimb, on the Race Of Champions stadium tracks and on the dirt rallycross stage, once again the EuroNASCAR car proved to be one of the most versatile race cars in the world.
Piloted by NASCAR Whelen Euro Series President and CEO Jerome Galpin, Europe’s official NASCAR car dealt perfectly with ice and snow right from the get-go, dancing on the twisty Val Thorens track with ease.
In addition to being spectacular to watch, the car was also definitely fast in its first outing with studded tires. For over 10 years, the French venue annually hosts an event dedicated to ice racing and the NWES car was already quicker than all specifically-designed rear wheel drive cars and close to all-wheel-drive ice prototypes lap times.
“That was super fun! To be honest we didn’t expect this first test on ice to go so well,” Galpin said. “The EuroNASCAR car has a great balance, so it is very easy to swing around on the ice.
“It is probably among the most versatile race cars ever built, able to race on every track and every surface, in every condition. The level of performance is also pretty impressive: with only one day of testing, we were able to set one of the fastest times around the track for a rear wheel drive car.”
The test and its fully satisfactory results will lead to new potential initiatives and projects involving the EuroNASCAR cars on ice.
“This test will definitely open up new horizons and spark new ideas for the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. We have to see what’s the next step but for sure this was a very special day,” said Galpin. “It doesn’t matter the surface you drive on, the shape of the track or the kind of driver you are: the Pure Racing character of the EuroNASCAR car is contagious and you will not want to stop driving it!”
The next dates marked on the calendar for the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series are May 15-16, when the 2021 season will begin in Valencia, Spain, at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
Each year, four finalists are selected and then voted upon for the Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award. With the award hitting the 10-year milestone in 2020, there have been 40 finalists who have earned more than 625,000 votes cast in the contest. The NASCAR Foundation has contributed $1,770,000 to children’s charities represented by award finalists over that time, and those charities have been able to serve the needs of 354,647 children.
