Ricky Rudd will miss his third consecutive race this weekend at Dover International Speedway. Rudd suffered a serious shoulder separation during a crash at California Speedway.

Kenny Wallace has filled in Rudd's No. 88 since that time and will continue this weekend with Dover's Dodge Dealers 400.

Wallace says that he is looking forward to running in the Dodge Dealers 400.

"I really have a love/hate relationship with Dover," he said. "I've had some good runs there, and those are the runs I always try to remember when we head there for a race. I really enjoy the track a lot, and I'm just waiting to love the track, but I really feel that I can do well up there in the car of tomorrow this weekend. For as much as I enjoy Dover, I haven't had the finishes that I should have so far, but I'm just going to keep on trying."

During his time in the RYR Ford, Wallace has posted unremarkable finishes of 28th and 34th respectively at Richmond and Loudon.

David Gililland, the other Yates driver, has only posted finishes of 22nd and 39th at the same events -- showing that the Yates machines aren't exactly up-to-par at the moment, however.

For Wallace's future, you've got to hope that Yates brings a better package to the Monster Mile this weekend.

It's not known when Ricky Rudd, who is retiring at the end of this season, will come back -- if at all -- from his injury.

NASCAR fans now a few more good examples of why NASCAR racing will never get boring after the steaming weekend at California Speedway -- for they know that at any time anything can happen in NASCAR.


Brad Keselowski, Ricky Rudd (as the video shows at 0:16) and Michael Waltrip are feeling why today.

Waltrip was the only driver of the three that had a faint idea that his race was about to end early when the left-front tire finally cut down entering turn three during Sunday night's Sharp Aquos 500, sheering an oil line and igniting the No. 55 Napa Toyota. Luckily, Waltrip was able to get out in time -- but not very quickly.

Rudd's fortunes weren't as obvious.

Update: Separated Shoulder?

The NASCAR Scene had this to say about Ricky Rudd's Injury:

Rudd, driver of the No. 88 Robert Yates Racing Ford, separated his left shoulder according to FoxSports.com. NASCAR officials would only confirm that Rudd injured that shoulder.

For a guy who's driven a race and won at Martinsville with eyelids taped open, I'll bet he'll be back for Richmond.

Original: Ricky Rudd appeared to come up a little lame, if you will, after a drivers-side hit against the California Speedway frontstretch wall during Sunday night's Sharp Aquos 500.

Rudd, the driver of Robert Yates' No. 88 Ford Fusion, was taken to the hospital via ambulance, and he was later treated and released. Remember, though, that "treated" can mean a number of things. (In other words, Kenny Wallace might be needed for stand-by duties at Richmond.)

The incident that Rudd, who's retiring from full-time competition (again) after 2007, was involved in happened on lap 180 when NASCAR point leader Jeff Gordon slid into the side of Jeremy Mayfield off of turn four. Mayfield clipped David Reutimann who spun towards the infield grass, but not before catching the rear-end of Rudd's Ford. Rudd's car then impacted the frontstretch wall nearly flat on with the driver's door.

What Were They Thinking?
"They" being the California Speedway track safety workers.

Michael Waltrip was involved in the other serious incident of the night at California -- at least the one that will get way overplayed on ESPN -- when Waltrip cut a tire that had been rubbing entering turn three.

NASCAR Nextel Cup point leader is now in a must-win situation Saturday night at Richmond if he wishes to be part of the point lead heading into the Chase for the Championship.

Jimmie Johnson cruised to victory lane Sunday night at California Speedway, scoring his fifth victory of the season and ten more bonus points for the Chase, which starts in two weeks at New Hampshire.

Gordon wasn't a factor after an incident late in the race and now faces the possibility that his 317-point lead could wind up being a 10 or 20 point deficit after 400 laps at Richmond International Raceway with Johnson's win.

On the other end of the Chase spectrum, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was all but locked out of the 2007 edition of the Chase despite finishing 5th. He sits 13th in the standings, 128 points behind 12th-place Kevin Harvick with the lone regular season race remaining.

All Harvick has to do is finish 32nd Saturday and he is locked in, even if Junior leads the most laps and wins.

The race had a higher number of wrecks than normal, including two mildly series incidents.

Dale Jarrett hasn't had the best of years -- by far.

That, though, doesn't mean the Cup Champ is going to step out of the driver seat of the No. 44 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota before his contract is up at the end of 2008.

"I'm very fortunate to have a sponsor that's very committed to our program, and I'm fortunate as a driver that they built their marketing program around me, and so that's very good," he said. "Do they want to do better? Sure. We all do. They're no different than anyone else, but never has there been anything said about making a change or doing anything different."

UPS really should be given a pat on the back for their support of Jarrett. Can the man still wheel a race car? Definitely. Can he make hilarious commercials? He can act in them, I suppose.

And they realize that Toyota will make some nice strides in 2008 with the Car of Tomorrow.

Rudd One and Done

As for Jarrett's old car and teammate, Ricky Rudd has deciding to hang it up again next year.

Though contemplating full retirement, Rudd hasn't taken his name away from anything, other than saying he won't be back at Yates and that he is tired of the daily grind.

Isn't that we he left the sport for a year ago?

1. Jeff Gordon. This place is heaven for Gordon. Last year he announced his engagement, this year he's having a baby. If Ingrid's not giving birth on Sunday, Jeffy will be out front in Sonoma. He is by far the dominant driver on the track with five poles, five wins and nine top 10s. If he has to miss one race, this shouldn't be it.
(Update: The kid is out and the race is on.)
2. Tony Stewart. He's the head of the class if Gordon's out. Maybe his 300th Nextel Cup career start will jump start his 2007 win column with his 30th career win.
3. Denny Hamlin. Only one start here, but that shouldn't stop him. This is a COT race. The COT owes him.

Say goodbye to any rumors that Robert Yates Racing will be running any other model than a Ford in the near future.

Yates told ESPN on Thursday that he had signed a new five-year deal with the manufacturer in a move that quieted some gossip but didn't clear up much.

"We have been talking to different people and they ask, 'What manufacturer are you with? How strong is that? How long term is it?' [This contract] puts a lot to bed. We have a good relationship with Ford, and we continue to," said Yates.

It's good to see one of NASCAR's traditional names still find a place in the growing sport. Yates knows he has some catching up to do to get Ricky Rudd and David Gilliland running like the Yates teams of the 90's, but this new contract helps solidify things for a few years.

The DEI-RYR partnership rumor is still alive and kicking, however, because DEI hasn't ruled out not campaigning with a different make in 2008. DEI has, however, inked a deal with Richard Childress Racing to build engines.

Confused yet? I am.

Leader of the Outside the Top 35 Pack
Kenny Wallace raced his Furniture Row #78 Chevrolet into the show for the seventh time this season. He will start 6th tonight at Darlington Raceway, matching his best qualifying effort of the season last week in Richmond.

Good thing, too, because Kenny really wants to race in Charlotte and now he gets another chance to remind fans to vote for him:

"The 'Vote for Kenny' campaign has grown its own legs and developed into a huge deal. I am very appreciative to Furniture Row for being such a supportive sponsor by getting behind the 'Vote For Kenny' campaign. I don't think that many other sponsors, if any at all, would give up the hood of their racecar for a weekend to promote voting their driver into the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge. Being voted into this race would be a huge deal, not just for me, but for my Furniture Row Racing team too!"

Following The Leader
Ken Schrader also starts in the top 10 in the 8th position. David Reuitmann starts 14th.

Both Red Bull racers are on track this weekend for just the second time this season, the first being Bristol. Brian Vickers starts in the 15th spot and A.J. Allmendinger starts 20th.p>Paul Menard starts 23rd in his eighth race of the season, Dave Blaney starts 27th and Ricky Rudd 40th.

Kevin LePage will start his first race of the season after attempting to qualify for 9 of the previous 10 races.

Losers of The Week (DNQs)
Scott Riggs, who has been outside the top 35 since the beginning of the season, failed to qualify for his first race in 2007 in Darlington.

Michael Waltrip (10), Jeremy Mayfield (8), Mike Bliss (7), Dale Jarrett (2), Ward Burton (6)

Dale Jarrett got some much needed practice time at Indianapolis on Tuesday in preparation for the 2007 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

"With this team, we need time on the racetrack. This was invaluable to a team like ours," said Jarrett.

Jarrett was among four other drivers from each manufacturer who were on hand to assist Goodyear in finding the correct tire combination for the July 29 race. Jimmie Johnson, Bobby Labonte, and Ricky Rudd were the other three.

The time has to be invaluable to those teams because NASCAR decided this year to remove Indianapolis from the scheduled test docket. Teams worked with NASCAR to develop testing sites for this season, and Indianapolis was removed from that list because it doesn't compare well to other tracks -- with the exception of Pocono.

The test was supposed to be a two day lapping extravaganza, but the threat of rain in the Hoosier state led to one day session.

After last week's complaints about the car of tomorrow exhaust systems, I expected we'd have more air quality complaints by the halfway mark of today's Goody Cool Orange 500.

I wasn't the only one. The drivers have the oxygen tanks ready to go.

Jimmie Johnson even tried to preempt any potential problem by preparing for today's race with oxygen therapy:

"Everybody has different beliefs with it, and it hasn't scienced out to a T yet. But the schedule I have been on is Friday for an hour, Saturday for an hour, Sunday morning for an hour. And then if I can, Sunday afternoon after the race; that is really when you can feel it the most. If you can get on some oxygen, it helps you out a lot."

But being short on oxygen at Martinsville isn't exclusive to the COT.

Check out this video from 1998 when race winner Ricky Rudd suffered a broken air conditioner in 90 degree heat. He gave his post-race interview lying on the ground in victory lane with oxygen in hand: