Richmond Ford car report

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

2 RUSTY WALLACE

For the third time this season Rusty will be debuting a brand new race car on a short track...he's hoping to complete the hat trick because on the other two occassions he ended up winning the race -- both at Bristol...this car is PC-27 and it hopes to follow in the footsteps of "Bristol" and "Flash", which gained their names after winning in their first start...in 4 short track races this year, Rusty has 2 wins, 3 top-fives, 4 top-10s and led the most laps in three of those events.

6 MARK MARTIN

The last time Martin was at Richmond he hit the wall hard after cutting a tire late in the race...he ended up with a 32nd-place finish and since that car was destroyed, he'll depend on JR-82 this weekend to turn his luck around...this car has raced three times in its history with all three coming this year...debuted at Bristol in the spring and finished 16th, but performed much better at Loudon (3rd)...the last time it competed was two weeks ago at Bristol when Martin qualified 7th and finished 3rd.

9 STACY COMPTON

Even though Compton doesn't have a top-20 finish this year, the closest he came was here at Richmond in the spring when he ran 22nd...that remains his best effort of the year and he's hoping to improve on that with the same car he had here the first time around...car has not run since then, but it did run twice earlier in the year as Compton ran 36th at Texas and 35th at Atlanta.

11 BRETT BODINE

This is one of Bodine's favorite cars after debuting last year at Homestead ...car is the same one that qualified 4th at Martinsville earlier this season, but got involved in an accident during the race and finished 36th...the last time this car saw the track was at Loudon in July and it qualified 13th...car was competitive all day in the race and finished 20th, one of his two top-20 efforts of 2000.

12 JEREMY MAYFIELD

After a heartbreaking run at Darlington last week where he won the pole and dominated the early stages of the race, Mayfield will try to rebound with the same car he had here at Richmond in the spring...that is the only time this car has raced in 2000 -- qualifying 20th and finishing 36th...got caught up in an accident involving Jimmy Spencer and Joe Nemechek and hit the wall.

13 ROBBY GORDON

Team Gordon did not go to Darlington last week deciding instead to concentrate on Richmond...they've brought the same car back as the spring race here when Gordon qualfied 36th and finished 37th after cutting a right-front tire...car also ran in the first Bristol race and finished 32nd after making the field via provisional (40th).

16 KEVIN LEPAGE

Lepage will be gunning for his second straight top-10 finish this weekend after posting a seventh-place effort at Darlington...as a result, he is only one spot out of the the top 25 in the point standings...finished 21st here at RIR in the spring, so in an attempt to improve on that the team has brought a brand new car for this weekend -- JR-105 ...the car has never been on a race track prior to Friday's practice.

17 MATT KENSETH

Kenseth is eligible for the No Bull 5 bonus this weekend after winning the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte in May... he and his team also came and tested at RIR last week to give themselves a better chance at that bonus...the car he will race Saturday night last ran at Loudon, where he qualified 22nd and finished 19th...this car originally belonged to Jeff Burton, who raced it in '98 and '99...Kenseth got used to it at the tail-end of last year when he ran five races in preparation for his rookie season...he ran this car for the first time last year at Dover (4th place).

19 CASEY ATWOOD

Atwood will make his NWC debut in a car his team built specially for this weekend's race...plans also call for Atwood to run a Ford at Martinsville and Homestead before embarking on his rookie season in 2001...team will be running engines prepared by Ernie Elliott...team tested this piece and car owner Ray Evernham said it went OK, but the team was hoping for a little more speed.

21 ELLIOTT SADLER

Sadler will look to complete his week-long hat trick after running in the truck race Thursday night and Busch race Friday...will have a special Virginia Tech paint scheme for the Winston Cup event...will also be driving a new Roush-prepared car as part of the team's new alliance...this will mark the second Roush car Sadler has driven since the partnership was announced earlier this summer...first time came at Daytona, where Sadler qualified 10th and finished 18th...Sadler tested this car here at Richmond a couple of weeks ago.

26 JIMMY SPENCER

This will mark the second time this car has raced at Richmond this season, but it's not the exact same piece...the reason is that it was involved in an accident at Loudon when Spencer cut a right-front tire and hit the wall in turn one...team repaired the car and brought it back to Richmond a couple of weeks ago to test...team was happy with its performance and hopes for better than the 17th-place effort at Richmond in the spring.

28 RICKY RUDD

The last time we saw Rudd driving this car it was unfortunately hitting the turn one wall at Pocono in July...Rudd cut down a tire while running up front and severely damaged the right-front part of the car...crew chief Michael McSwain said the team put on a new front snout, right-side frame rail, and two-thirds of the body has been re-done...prior to the Pocono accident, Rudd ran this car at Martinsville, where he was hit from behind and spun (finished 22nd), and in the first Pocono race where he ended up 3rd.

32 SCOTT PRUETT

Pruett and his team jumped a big hurdle last week with a 23rd-place finish at Darlington -- a track where they did not qualify the first time around...they will try to continue that momentum this weekend with a car that has run primarily on short tracks...car debuted at Martinsville and qualified 35th (finished 32nd)...ran the first Richmond race as well and qualified 35th (finished 27th).

66 DARRELL WALTRIP

DW tested here at Richmond a couple of weeks ago, but was not happy with the car he had during the two-day session...as a result, he has opted to bring the same car he ran Indy with last month...that proved to be Waltrip's biggest highlight as he qualified on the outside pole and finished a season-high 11th.

75 WALLY DALLENBACH

RotoZip is on the hood this weekend as the team's revolving primary sponsorships continue...Dallenbach had this car the first time around here at Richmond and qualified a season-best 8th and finished 16th...car also attempted to qualify at Martinsville earlier this year but did not make the starting field.

77 ROBERT PRESSLEY

It's been a rough three weeks for Pressley...finished 32nd at Michigan, 37th at Bristol and 36th last week at Darlington after getting involved in an accident...the Jasper team hopes to stop that streak this weekend with the same car he has driven in both Pocono races this season...finished 11th and 14th in both of those events. 88 DALE JARRETT

Crew chief Todd Parrott said that when the 88 team tested at Richmond a couple of weeks ago they brought a new car and the one that captured the 1999 Pontiac 400...after two days it was decided that Jarrett would race the new piece this weekend...after gaining 20 points on Bobby Labonte after Bristol, Jarrett lost those 20 points last weekend at Darlington and trails again by 111 points with 10 races to go.

90 HUT STRICKLIN

Stricklin is also looking to bounce back after a rough weekend at Darlington in which he was forced to retire early after the oil pressure went sky high...will be driving the car Ed Berrier attempted to qualify at Charlotte...did not make the race and car has not run since.

94 BILL ELLIOTT

After two weeks on the sidelines while rehabilitating his surgically-repaired left knee, Elliott is planning on getting back in the car this weekend...David Green will be standing by in relief in case Elliott cannot go the distance... the car Elliott will drive has primarily been a backup in 2000...car was built last year, but this will mark its first race of the season.

97 CHAD LITTLE

Little struggled the first time out here at Richmond, qualifying 26th and finishing 39th...as a result, the team has opted to bring a different car this weekend -- the same one Little drove here at Richmond in '99...qualified 14th with this car in last year's spring race and was involved in an accident during the fall event on lap 37 and finished 42nd.

99 JEFF BURTON

Fresh off his second-place run at Darlington last week, Burton will try for his second straight top-10 finish with this car at Richmond...car had never seen a race track until showing up here in the spring and it posted a 7th-place finish...ran again two months ago at Loudon and finished 11th...car has not raced since then.