Ricky signed with Rick Hendrick in 1990, after spending the previous 2 years driving for Kenny Bernstein's #26 Quaker State team~ His first race in the Tide car came in the 1991 Daytona 500, where he qualified well, with a 9th place starting spot, and finished in the same position~ In the next race, the Pontiac Excitement 400 @ Richmond, Rudd qualified 4th, and finished 2nd, leading 154 laps~
Rudd in the #5 Tide car passing Brett Bodine~
In his 5th race with new sponsor Tide, Rudd won the TranSouth 500 @ Darlington, after starting in 13th~ After this race, Rudd became the points leader, and remained there until the end of the Winston 500 @ Talladega, where he finished 13th~ Ricky finished the season 2nd in points, his career best, picking up 1 pole, 1 win, 9 top 5's, and 17 top 10's~ This was also the season Rudd was wrongly penalized by NASCAR after the Sears Point race in which he spun Davey Allison to take the lead, and pick up the win~ After the race, NASCAR penalized Rudd, and gave Allison the win, infuriating Rudd~
Rudd's 1992 season started off disastrous, with a 40th place finish in the Daytona 500 after suffering engine problems on lap 79~ He picked up his first top 10 five races into the season in the TansSouth 500 @ Darlington~ He again only claimed one victory during the season, picking up the lone win in the Peak Antifreeze 500 @ Dover in the 23rd race of the year~ He finished 1992 with 1 pole, 1 win, 9top 5's, and 18 top 10's, finishing 7th in the final points standings~
Ricky Rudd wins @ Dover 1992~
Although Ricky's time in the #5 Tide car was consistent, 1993 proved to be his worst year with the team~ Rudd again won only 1 race, the Miller Genuine Draft 400 @ Michigan~ He dropped to 10th in the final points standings, having netted 0 poles, 1 win, 9 top 5's, and 14 top 10's~ At season's end, Rudd announced he would form his own team for the 1994 season, and would bring his Tide sponsorship with him~
Ricky Rudd #5 Tide Chevrolet~
The orange paint used for the car seemed sun faded even when brand new, like it needed to be brighter~ Also, the yellow and the blue on the side of the car tends to crack up, leaving tiny cracks all throughout the paint~ I still enjoy the car, and other than that, they did a decent job with it~ I give it a C+ on the Racing Champions quality scale~
Ricky Rudd ran a total of 906 races during his 32 year career~ He never won more than 2 races in a season, but always seemed to be up there contending for the win week in, and week out~ He was a quiet, respectable racer, and one the NASCAR world will truly miss watching on the track~ Below, I have added some videos based on his career, and one revisiting the infamous "stolen" race win~ Thanks for stopping by the blog!~ :)
NASCAR steals Rudd's win away~
1989 Holly Farms 400 - Final laps~
900th start tribute~
All of Ricky Rudd's Cup wins~
Ricky was a good driver and I feel like he has to be among some of the top five best drivers to never win a Winston cup championship. That tide car was awesome! Both the number 5 he drove for the rick Hendrick motorsports team as well as the number 10 that he owned and drove. Best looking car on the track
ReplyDeleteMust say that I've always been shocked that Ricky had such little success driving the 28 car in the early 00s for Robert Yates racing. Most drivers for RYR won at least 1-3 races a year
ReplyDelete"Totally agree! I find it very frustrating for Ricky Rudd, Allan Kulwicki, and Davey Allison. Specifically, these three drivers. I feel a great sense of frustration because the deaths of Kulwicki and Allison deprived fans of two monstrous champions who could have certainly held their own against the great Dale Earnhardt. I think they were the only ones legitimate enough to do so at the time! As for Rudd, it's definitely somewhat incomprehensible that he didn't achieve more than two victories per season. And as for the Action Packed trading cards of 1993, I understand why his car was never selected for the cards. It's a shame really, because the "TIDE" paint scheme is certainly the best paint scheme from the Winston Cup era of 1988 to 1993, from Darrell Waltrip to Ricky Rudd."
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