Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Ricky Rudd just came off of a couple of tough losses at Dover and Richmond in the previous month. At Pocono, he had to change the engine after practice, thus he had to start at the back of the field in the 2002 Pocono 500.
Ricky Rudd, the defending champion of this race, showed that this car was fast. He methodically and quickly moved his way through the field. He ended up taking the lead for the first time on lap 121. He ended up leading a total of 60 laps, most of any driver on this day.
He passed Jeff Burton with 21 laps to go and it looked like Rudd had the race won. However, as Fatback McSwain predicted, you can't count anything out. Unfortunately, with 5 laps to go, Rudd lost the lead to teammate Dale Jarrett as he was suffering a flat tire. With 2 laps to go, the tire gave way and crashed into the turn 1 wall.
Instead of winning, Rudd finished 18th. It had been a tough few weeks for Rudd during this stretch. It was a shame he couldn't pull it off as he had a fast car during all of these races. He would eventually get a win two weeks later at Sonoma, his last of his career.
Darrell Waltrip seemed to predict the future here talking about the "paper flying out of Rudd's window" when Jarrett passed him for the win would be his contract extension with Robert Yates. He would not return to RYR in 2003, moving to the Wood Brothers #21 car.
Video is for awareness purposes only. All credit to NASCAR and FOX.
Ricky Rudd just came off of a couple of tough losses at Dover and Richmond in the previous month. At Pocono, he had to change the engine after practice, thus he had to start at the back of the field in the 2002 Pocono 500.
Ricky Rudd, the defending champion of this race, showed that this car was fast. He methodically and quickly moved his way through the field. He ended up taking the lead for the first time on lap 121. He ended up leading a total of 60 laps, most of any driver on this day.
He passed Jeff Burton with 21 laps to go and it looked like Rudd had the race won. However, as Fatback McSwain predicted, you can't count anything out. Unfortunately, with 5 laps to go, Rudd lost the lead to teammate Dale Jarrett as he was suffering a flat tire. With 2 laps to go, the tire gave way and crashed into the turn 1 wall.
Instead of winning, Rudd finished 18th. It had been a tough few weeks for Rudd during this stretch. It was a shame he couldn't pull it off as he had a fast car during all of these races. He would eventually get a win two weeks later at Sonoma, his last of his career.
Darrell Waltrip seemed to predict the future here talking about the "paper flying out of Rudd's window" when Jarrett passed him for the win would be his contract extension with Robert Yates. He would not return to RYR in 2003, moving to the Wood Brothers #21 car.
Video is for awareness purposes only. All credit to NASCAR and FOX.
