Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie

Is Ricky Rudd in your NASCAR Hall of Fame?

Ricky Rudd will start his 900th career NASCAR Nextel Cup/Winston Cup race this week end at California Motor Speedway.  At the end of the 2007 Nextel Cup season he has said he will retire.

Is Ricky Rudd in your Hall of Fame?

Known as the Ironman for his record 788 consecutive Cup series starts. Rudd shares the record for most consecutive seasons with at least one win - his run from 1983 through 1998 - with Rusty Wallace.  Barring a miracle in the last 12 races, he'll finish with 23 Top series wins.

No one knows how NASCAR will choose their Hall of Fame inductees - or how fast or slow they will build the numbers of members.  In any case, Ricky Rudd will not be included in early classes.

Even down the line, the 23 wins alone would be on the low side of the margins of my qualifications.  But taking the whole body of work into account, Ricky Rudd deserves to be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame some day.

Picture credit: Beth Anne Heisler - ON PIT ROW

Five questions while waiting for things to dry out at MIS

This is new territory.  We rarely have an open week in the schedule before posting our questions for the week.

This week Mother Nature is playing havoc with the race schedule.  After two days of waiting out the rain--having a small window and getting the track dry just in time for the rains to come again.

NASCAR will try again on Tuesday morning.  If it doesn't happen then its major restructuring of the schedule.

The Buzz ON PIT ROW is:

What could NASCAR do to minimize the risk of having to run a postponed race in November?

The Fast Lap this week asks:

1) Ricky Rudd is retiring again--is he a hall of Famer?

2) For the absolute last time--who deserves to have the #8?

3) There were only four cautions in the 250 mile Busch race at MIS.  Was it boring?

4) Also for the last time--Sprint/Nextel or AT&T/Cingular--who should prevail.

Let us know how you feel; about these questions, or anything else that happened during the wet week at MIS.  If we like your comments, whether we agree or not, we could use them on the air during Tuesday's ON PIT ROW.  Leave us a comment on the blog or call the show--toll free at 1-877-502-8255 between 5-7pm edt on Tuesdays.