Veterans Pace Ford at Pocono

RICKY RUDD – No. 88 Combo’s Ford Fusion (finished 13th) – DID EXPERIENCE MEAN ANYTHING TODAY? “No, I just think we had a good race car. That was the main thing, we had a good race car. You get a good race car, a decent race car – I did my part, didn’t get in any wrecks, it seems like that’s what happens to us most of the time. It was just a good, solid day.”



WHAT COULD YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED WITHOUT THE SPEEDING PENALTY? “I don’t think it changed a whole lot, it really didn’t. Shortly after that they had a pit cycle, and we stayed on the track and a bunch pitted. That put us right back in the hunt, and then later on we got our caution, so it really didn’t change anything. I don’t quite understand it. Like I said, we were running with a group of cars and we were speeding. I guess it is what it is. Our biggest deal is the car was just a little off all day. It was balanced well, but it just needed a little bit more grip. I’m not sure if it’s aero or chassis, but considering where we’ve been all year – we’ve had some decent runs and have never been able to capitalize. Today we just didn’t have anything go wrong.”



WHAT CAN YOU TAKE OUT OF TODAY’S PERFORMANCE? “It’s just that we didn’t have anything go wrong. We had a pit-road speeding there, but we were able to rebound and it didn’t kill us, the way it all turned out. Like I say, we weren’t a winning car; we had a few more spots there we might’ve been able to pick up at the end, but I had a brake issue that was getting pretty severe. I went down on the inside of Bobby Labonte late in the race, went down in there going into one, and it went to the floorboard. I just about took us out, took two or three of us out, so after that I had to lay back a little bit. I think at the end we probably could’ve got by Kyle Busch for sure, but that probably could’ve been as far as we could go.”