Joe Ruttman News

Spencer to the #09 car?

Spencer to the #09 car?

March 15, 2004
Jimmy Spencer is out looking for a full-time Nextel Cup ride and #09 car owner James Finch, a man that Spencer has worked for in the past, is looking at a more full-time operation that he's run lately, and the two could be teaming up. Finch has been a cherry-picker

Field Filler? [yeah is is long, but it interetsed me]:

Field Filler? [yeah is is long, but it interetsed me]:

March 14, 2004
Kirk Shelmerdine went to the rear windshield of his #72 Ford Taurus with a wrench and took a few wedges out of the rear springs. He returned to the front of the car and began working under the hood. Later he jacked up the left side, rolled tires to the hauler and checked

StockCarFans.Com – Ramblings – Atlanta:

StockCarFans.Com – Ramblings – Atlanta:

March 14, 2004
#12-Ryan Newman hasn't got any let up in him.....and I don't guess we should have expected any, huh? Newman grabbed his second Bud pole of the season for Sunday's Golden Corral 500 [Friday] at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and (as is often the case) it wasn't even close.

Atlanta Qualifying Notes:

Atlanta Qualifying Notes:

March 13, 2004
* Ryan Newman won the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Bud Pole for the Golden Corral 500, lapping Atlanta Motor Speedway in 28.640 seconds at 193.575 mph. Geoffrey Bodine holds the track-qualifying record of 28.074 seconds, 197.478 mph, set Nov. 15, 1997. * This is Newman's 20th

Atlanta Notes:

Atlanta Notes:

March 12, 2004
Some records seem destined to last forever, like Bill Elliott's qualifying marks of 210.364 and 212.809 mph, respectively, at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. Geoffrey Bodine (No. 03 Team EJP Chevrolet) holds the title to one such lap - with

#09 to have pit crew at Vegas:

#09 to have pit crew at Vegas:

March 3, 2004
Allow Phoenix Racing general manager Marc Reno to coin a new term: This weekend, he says, they'll be "legitimate-racing" their #09 car. Reno acknowledges that wasn't the case in the Nextel Cup series' most recent race at North Carolina Speedway on Feb. 22. Driver Joe

NASCAR Pushing Older Drivers out or to Part-time?

NASCAR Pushing Older Drivers out or to Part-time?

March 2, 2004
As long as the sponsors and team owners were satisfied with the driver's performance, he could race as long as he wanted [in the past]. But that's about to change. And the pressure to kick the aging cans of veteran drivers isn't coming so much from the owners or sponsors

More on the Field Fillers:

More on the Field Fillers:

February 24, 2004
#80-Andy Hillenburg, who failed to qualify Junie Donlavey's #90-car at Daytona (although he made a little money in the 125), made the field in Stan Hover's long-shot car here and did best among the irregulars, finishing 34th. You might also consider #14-Larry Foyt (

More on Field Fillers:

More on Field Fillers:

February 23, 2004
NASCAR’s John Darby declared here that there was no contractual provision requiring Nextel Cup fields to sport a full 43-car allottment at each event, but the governing body is obviously mounting a major effort to get enough cars to each track to fulfill such

Droppin’ out early….ya think? UPDATE:

Droppin’ out early….ya think? UPDATE:

February 22, 2004
#09-Joe Ruttman, #80-Andy Hillenburg, #46-Carl Long and #72-Kirk Shelmerdine aren't here [Rockignham] to race. They're here to make sure there were 43 cars to line up for the start. If they go out early because of a "vibration," it'll be their pagers vibrating to tell

Long earns his ‘purse’. loses his only Cup car:

Long earns his ‘purse’. loses his only Cup car:

February 22, 2004
The most spectacular wreck of the race involved #46-Carl Long, one of the four "field-fillers" in the event, who walked away unhurt after flipping his car almost six times down the backstretch. Long was bumped from behind by #01-Joe Nemechek on lap 263 and the contact

How Ruttman found out he was racing at the Rock:

How Ruttman found out he was racing at the Rock:

February 21, 2004
Joe Ruttman, who ranks racing just behind baby-sitting, discovered he would be qualifying for his first Cup race since 1995 while sitting in #09 car owner James Finch's trailer before the Daytona 500 on Sunday. "He walked in and asked for my address," said Ruttman,

StockCarFans.Com – Ramblings – Rockingham:

StockCarFans.Com – Ramblings – Rockingham:

February 21, 2004
It was Ryan Newman's day today....and once again it wasn't in much doubt. #12-Newman was faster than Jamie McMurray in his Alltel Dodge at North Carolina Speedway this afternoon...by a whopping .165 seconds. He sped around this 1 mile oval in 23.398 sec (156.475 mph

Testing at Texas:

Testing at Texas:

February 20, 2004
Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. is one of two-dozen drivers scheduled to test at Texas Motor Speedway prior to the Samsung/RadioShack 500 race week. In addition to NASCAR NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series teams, the Crown Royal International Race of Champions (IROC

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES NEWS AND NOTES DAYTONA

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES NEWS AND NOTES DAYTONA

February 9, 2004
10-year anniversary for series begins at Daytona The 2004 season figures to be the most competitive yet with an unprecedented three former champions #42-Mike Skinner, #16-Jack Sprague and #24-Travis Kvapil competing fulltime. Sprague will be in pursuit of his fourth