Ford Racing Richmond II car report

Here are some notes on Ford teams and the cars they will be running this weekend:

2 RUSTY WALLACE
Rusty and PC-27 will be teamed up this weekend and this duo figures to be up front all weekend...car debuted in this event one year ago and qualified 5th...led 88 laps before the engine went away, resulting in a 34th-place finish...car bounced back at RIR earlier this year and qualified 2nd...led 5 times for 276 laps and ended up 3rd...PC-27 has 6 races on its resume and has 3 top-five finishes...suffered mechanical problems in two events and ran 13th this year at Martinsville.

6 MARK MARTIN
Martin will be paired with JR-89 for the second time this year at Richmond ...the car debuted here in the spring and Martin promptly stuck it on the pole with a speed of 124.613 mph...led the first 3 laps and ran in the top-five the first half of the race before falling back to 13th...only other race for this piece was at Loudon in July when Martin once again qualified on the front row (2nd) and finished 18th.

7 MIKE WALLACE
Wallace is coming off a 12th-place finish last week at Darlington...the last time he raced this particular Taurus was at Loudon, where Wallace finished 10th...this will be the fourth race Wallace has driven this car...finished 31st at Martinsiville and 25th here at Richmond in the spring.

11 BRETT BODINE
Instead of the usual red and white paint scheme, Bodine will sport a blue and white look at Kroger takes over the primary sponsor position for this weekend...even though it looks different on the outside, it's the same car Bodine drove last week at Darlington...this will mark its 11th race of the 2001 season -- Michigan (twice), Pocono (twice), Indy, Chicago, Charlotte, Texas, Atlanta, California and Darlington...it's also the car he set the track qualifying record with at the Brickyard 400 in 2000.

12 JEREMY MAYFIELD
Mayfield had a good run last weekend at Darlington, but he hit the wall while challenging for second place after the red flag and ended up 13th...this weekend Mayfield will have a brand new car to race...car was finished last week and has not tested anywhere prior to hitting the track on Friday.

17 MATT KENSETH
Kenseth will be driving and oldie but goodie this weekend at Richmond...car #1 is the oldest piece in the 17-car fleet and it actually belonged to Jeff Burton three years ago before Kenseth made the jump to Winston Cup...Matt ran this Taurus during his five-race schedule in '99...has raced this car three times in 2001 with a pair of top-10 finishes...posted a 6th at Martinsville and 8th here at Richmond in the spring...last time it competed was at Loudon (finished 16th).

21 ELLIOTT SADLER
The Wood Brothers are taking this Winston No Bull Five seriously...this is their first attempt at the million dollar bonus, so they've got a brand new Roush-built car for this weekend...they planned to go to Lakeland and test it earlier this week, but rain washed out those plans...Eddie Wood got on the phone and found the next-best place -- Memphis Motor Speedpark...so the team went to Tennessee and tested on that track, which is three degrees flatter than Richmond, but the same 3/4-mile size.

26 JIMMY SPENCER
Spencer has had nothing but good luck with this car in 2001...it has competed three times this year and has two top-10 finishes...the last time it ran was at Loudon, where Spencer ran 4th...its other top 10 was at Martinsville (9th)...only other appearance came here at Richmond in the spring when Spencer qualified 5th and finished 16th.

28 RICKY RUDD
Rudd has one victory this season and this is the car that put him there...in winning the Pocono 500 almost three months ago, Rudd sat on the pole and led two times for 39 laps...took the lead for the final time with 24 laps remaining to beat Jeff Gordon...Rudd also drove the car to a 19th-place finish at Las Vegas earlier this year...the car is one of the older ones in the 28 fleet as it was also driven by the late Kenny Irwin during his stint with the team.

32 RICKY CRAVEN
The PPI teams have been interchanging Tauruses of late and this week its Craven who will have a car driven previously by Houston...this is the car Houston raced here at Richmond in the spring and, even though he qualified 34th with it, he ran well during the race...eventually got involved in an accident that led to an engine failure and 42nd-place finish.

66 TODD BODINE
Bodine will have the same car he drove here at Richmond in the spring...Bodine finished 30th in that event after needed a provisional to make the field (started 43rd)...car debuted at Martinsville and qualified 12th, but engine problems limited him to just 12 laps and a 43rd-place finish...its last start came at Loudon and things went smoothly as Bodine qualified 6th and finished 15th.

77 ROBERT PRESSLEY
Pressley will be back in the Jasper Engines Taurus after a hard hit in last week's Southern 500 at Darlington... the car Pressley will pilot is the same piece he had in both Pocono races, where he finished 14th and 9th...car also ran at Las Vegas and finished 16th.

88 DALE JARRETT
Jarrett is 2-for-3 with this car in 2001 with wins at Martinsville and Loudon...car was brand new at the Martinsville race in April, but after qualifying 13th it worked through the field and took the lead for the first and only time with six laps remaining...in its last appearance at Loudon, this piece qualified 9th and led twice with the final time coming with four laps to go...its only non-win came here at Richmond when Jarrett qualified 20th and finished 15th.

90 HUT STRICKLIN
Stricklin and his team will have a brand new car to race at Junie Donlavey's home track...they had considered testing here, but opted not to after the sealer was put down...did not qualify for the first Richmond race in April.

96 ANDY HOUSTON
Houston did not qualify for last week's race at Darlington...he'll try to get back on track this weekend with a brand new car...WC-25 has never been raced before by PPI...the car Houston ran here in the spring is being driven by teammate Ricky Craven this week.

97 KURT BUSCH
Busch captured the first pole of his NWC career last weekend at Darlington...he comes to Richmond with car #35, which is the same piece he ran here in the spring...qualified 31st for that event and finished 18th.

99 JEFF BURTON
Burton will drive this particular car for the fourth time this season...led for a 128-lap stretch at Martinsville before surrendering the lead to Ricky Rudd and finishing 3rd...Burton finished 14th with this piece here at Richmond in the spring and then finished 11th in its last time out at Loudon.

-Ford Racing