More on Rudd’s possible retirement: #28-Ricky Rudd says he’ll make a decision about his racing future by July. With his record-setting 656th consecutive start on the Winston Cup circuit set for Sunday, Ricky Rudd, at 45, said he’s finally taking a look at retiring. He said he’ll make a decision on his future by July. Today, the only decisions he and car owner Robert Yates will be making concern tonight’s qualifying runs for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, the longest race of the season. “As far as making a decision about what I’m going to do next year, well I’m at the end of a three-year contract with Robert Yates and Havoline, and when you start coming to the end of a contract, clearly you want to start weighing your options,” Rudd said. At the moment, Yates is also considering his options. Complicating the entire situation is the fact that Havoline, although a Texaco product, has been marketed by rival Shell to get around some merger issues. And now that Shell has bought Pennzoil-Quaker State, it plans to begin marketing those oil products instead of Havoline. While Yates ponders the sponsorship issues, Rudd is pondering his own options. “The options are staying with Robert; right now that is an option,” Rudd said. “The other options, if Robert can’t afford to wait for me to make a July decision, then obviously there are some other teams out there that would like to have me. But my No. 1 priority would be to stay where I am.” But with Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Rick Hendrick looking at picking up Rudd if he does become a free agent, Rudd would seem to be in the driver’s seat.(Winston Salem Journal)(5-23-2002)
