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| | Monday, November 6 Winless streak continues for Rudd | |||||
| Associated Press AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Ricky Rudd, who holds the Winston Cup Series record of at least one win in 16 straight years, is wondering when he'll get the next one. Winless in two years, Rudd took the lead Sunday with 60 laps remaining in the Checker Auto Parts/Dura Lube 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Rudd's Robert Yates Racing Ford was out front for 41 laps before he got caught up in a crash that began when Rick Mast cut down a tire, slowed on the mile oval and got rear-ended by Mike Bliss. As Bliss's car slid down the 11-degree banking, Rudd, trying to take evasive action, slammed into it. He drove to the pits for repairs but wound up finishing 37th in the 43-car field. "I keep thinking it can't get any worse, but I hate to see it because we had a really fast car," said Rudd, who sold his own team at the end of 1999 to drive for Yates. "It could be worse. We could have been running dead last. "We could have won four, maybe five times this year. Last year, I was back in the back somewhere and this year we're out front. At least we wreck leading races. You just pick up the pieces and keep going." Rudd, who has 12 top-five finishes this season, slipped from fifth to sixth in the season points. Almost Mark Martin was never in the top 10 Sunday until he made a decision to forego fresh tires and leave Martin on the track when the other drivers on the lead lap made their final pit stops under caution. Martin, who had been running 15th before the yellow flag, found himself leading the race for the final restart with 11 of the 312 laps remaining. But the two fresh tires each of the leaders took on that last stop made a big difference, with Martin being passed by eventual winner Jeff Burton with five laps to go and falling to sixth at the end. "The track really needed to be cleaned up a little bit more and if I could have gotten (NASCAR) to clean it a little big more, it would have been darn close," Martin said. He said the decision to stay on the track was his. "I felt like where we were sitting that we had more to gain than to lose, and with five to go we were still leading. We weren't running good and I wanted to win real bad. I drove as hard as I could." First look Ryan Newman, making his Winston Cup debut for Roger Penske's team, started 10th but wound up having a tough day. The 22-year-old driver slipped steadily back into the field and wound up 41st, going out after 176 laps with an engine failure. "The race was a case of highs and lows," said Newman, a short- track ace who raised eyebrows earlier this year by winning three of five ARCA stock-car events for Penske. "It was neat, but it wasn't fun trying to stay out of the way. "I know we were capable of a lot better finish today, and I know we were capable of finishing, so we'll just look forward to the next opportunity." Front row success Burton, who started second, alongside pole-winner Rusty Wallace, was the first winner in 13 Cup races at PIR to take the checkered flag after starting on the front row. He has now finished fourth or better in the last three races at Phoenix, as well as winning Saturday's Busch Series race on the mile oval. In fact, Burton was the first driver to sweep both a Busch and Winston Cup races on the same weekend since he did it in March in Las Vegas. Champion's run Bobby Labonte's 17th top-five finish in 32 starts this season left him with a 218-point lead over runner-up Dale Earnhardt and 226 over third-place Burton with races remaining in Homestead, Fla., and Hampton, Ga. Labonte can wrap up his first Winston Cup title next Sunday if he: He will also win the $3 million championship by simply finishing 28th or better in each of the remaining races. "It's a lot of fun," Labonte said of his position in the standings. "Last year, we were 200 points behind (Dale Jarrett), so I know how hard it is to try to catch up. If we just do our job right, then those guys will have a real hard time catching up." | ALSO SEE Burton wins at Phoenix; Labonte widens gap AUDIO/VIDEO   ESPN's Matt Yocum reports on Ricky Rudd's misfortune in Phoenix.RealVideo: 28.8 | |||||