Rudd unsure about return to full-time racing
Saturday, June 03, 2006
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BILL ANDERSON /
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DOVER, Del. - Shortly before stepping into a Nextel Cup car for the first time since last November, veteran driver Ricky Rudd says he won't decide until late this season whether he wants to return to the sport next year, although he appears to be leaning against it.
Rudd, who is filling in for the injured Tony Stewart in practice and qualifying for the Neighborhood Excellence 400 at Dover International Speedway, told reporters today that he's in no hurry to make a decision.
As to rumors that he's been courted by Toyota team owners, Rudd says that he has had calls - but not just from that manufacturer's teams.
Rudd said that he's told all the callers that he doesn't want to hold their plans up and that he remains committed to spending a year away from NASCAR. Rushing his decision, or rushing a team's decision, wouldn't be fair to anyone, he says, nor would having someone wait for him to make the choice about whether or not his future includes racing.
By the time he's ready to make that decision, possibly in September or October, Rudd says teams should have already locked up a driver and be getting prepared for 2007.
"Right now, if you ask me am I going to come back and run a 100 percent schedule or will I be back next year, I don't think so," Rudd said. "I'm enjoying retirement right now, I'm enjoying my time off. Seems like the more time I have off, the more I'm enjoying it."
Asked how he reacted when he got the call to fill in for Stewart, who fractured his shoulder blade in a crash during the May 28 Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway but plans to start the race Sunday, Rudd laughed. "It was a real, real tough call," Rudd said. "I've got a little minifarm out in Huntersville, N.C., and it was a real tough decision: Do I go out and cut grass for six hours today or this weekend, or do I go to Dover and drive a race car? It wasn't real hard to figure out what I wanted to do."
In the past few months, Rudd has shifted comfortably into a life without racing. After competing for more than 30 years, he wondered how he would handle being away from the track. Turns out he hasn't really missed it that much.
Rudd competed with Wood Brothers Racing through the end of last season, announcing late in the year that he planned to take a year off from full-time competition.
He remains committed to that goal.
"Really I'm just really sort of taking some time off to figure out, 'Can I handle this retirement situation?' I hated to use the word retirement and really never did, to see if I could settle into a routine after doing this for 30, 31 years," he said.
Rudd says he has really enjoyed the break and having more time to spend with his 13-year-old son, Landon.
"I've been out playing with my son just about every day. [I] sort of neglected him over the last several years just because of the nature of the sport, so we've been spending a lot of time together, ride a lot of dirt bikes, ride a lot of go-karts and stay really active," Rudd said. "I was telling somebody the other day, I race more now than I used to race, I just don't get paid to do it. So we've been out chasing each other around."
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Tony Stewart
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