IN SIGHT Don't ask. We just don't know. FOCUS: RICKY RUDD Rudd Finally, reason to celebrate. Ricky Rudd's move to the Wood Bros. for 2003 was questioned by many -- including RPM.ESPN.com. But his comfort level with his new employees and words of praise for the organization had everyone thinking that maybe Rudd would be able to find some success in the No. 21 Ford this year. Hasn't happened. At least not lately. After a strong start which saw Rudd sitting ninth in points after six races, Rudd slipped to as low as 27 in points after a nine-race stretch devoid of top-10 finishes (Rudd had just two top-20s in that span). But a 15th at Sonoma -- following a strong qualifying run -- and a third-place finish in Saturday's Pepsi 400 have Rudd up to 24th in points and feeling a whole lot better. "We really needed a good shot in the arm," said Rudd. "You've got to give it to these guys. They've really been working hard. They've been catching a lot of heat. We haven't been getting the finishes that we probably needed, but the second half of the season is gonna be different." Different enough to see Rudd and Co. find Victory Lane? Maybe, maybe not. "These guys have something going. I don't think we're a winning team yet, but I feel like we're top-10 material every week now." Rudd heads to Chicagoland this weekend, where he finished 19th last year after scoring a third-place result in 2001. And according to Rudd, the track isn't your typical 1½-mile cookie cutter circuit. "What makes it most unusual is where you are passing at. You go on the flat to do it," said Rudd, who will make his 698th consecutive start this weekend. "As a matter of fact, at one of the driver's meetings they tried to make it where you couldn't go below the bottom line of the race track, very similar to Daytona and Talladega, but everyone sort of felt that it wasn't necessary to make that rule at that track. "So there is a lot of excitement that goes on there on the flat of the race track. There is more passing on the flat than what happens on the back." Rudd is ahead of former teammate Dale Jarrett (28th) in points but trails his Robert Yates Racing replacement, Elliott Sadler (18th). PIT PASS Picking up: Scott Dixon had two straight wins and started from the pole at Kansas on Sunday, but the Kiwi couldn't continue his lap-leading magic. "Our car was very good and we were able to stay up front for most of the day," said Dixon, who is second in IndyCar points behind Tony Kanaan. "The fuel pickup problem ended any chance that we had at winning three straight today. It's very frustrating to have this kind of thing happen. "Luckily, we were able to salvage a sixth-place finish out of it today. We're still in the points race, so we just need to keep finishing races and we'll be OK." Bruno Junqueira continued his quiet success with a third-place finish in Cleveland. But make no mistake, he wanted second place. "I knew I had one lap to try to pass Paul Tracy," said Junqueira of his temporary hold on second place on the final lap. "I knew it was important for the championship but on the other hand, after 114 laps I didn't want to take everything out. I did a move on (Tracy) in Turn 3 and out-braked him. For sure I lifted a little bit between three and four. I thought that he was going to give me a move on Turn 4 and do a better exit. "Then I slowed down too much to Paul. I think Paul made a great maneuver to keep outside and get around me on the outside. I said, 'Oh, there is one driver in the world that could do that, and that guy is Paul Tracy.'" Mailbag: Got your own questions about what's happening in the pits? Ask away, and we'll answer a question or two in the next Gas&Go. Name: E-mail address: City, state: Your comment: Does anyone else find it odd that NASCAR's biggest races on its most famous track are so damn different than those on the rest of the schedule? Yes, the main culprit's the restrictor plates. No, they aren't going anywhere. But there are alternatives, as Rupen Fofaria documented last October when Cup hit Talladega. NASCAR is exploring some of those options. One of the options put into use -- with varying levels of success -- is the smaller fuel cells. The idea is this: Force the cars to pit more often and thus spread out the field. Has it worked? Well, it does during pit cycles and even a little bit once regular racing resumes -- and it's hard to argue with the lack of a "Big One" at Daytona's Pepsi 400 on Saturday, though there still were the typical huge packs of cars parading around the 2½-mile oval. But the fuel cells had an unintended effect on Sunday: directly determining the race winner. Kudos to Greg Biffle and his No. 16 team. The Roush crew knew what it was doing and rookie Biffle deserved the win. But here's the puzzler -- NASCAR knows what pit windows it creates when determining the size of the fuel cell. And it mandated such a size that left many teams on the bubble in terms of how far they could go on their last tank of gas. The bubble didn't burst for Biffle -- or for Jeff Burton, for that matter. They played it right, but it's a strategy that shouldn't have been as readily available to them. NASCAR needs to increase or decrease the size of the fuel cells at Daytona and Talladega to take a strictly fuel-mileage win out of the equation. Another superspeedway superproblem is the yellow line. We don't remember massive wrecks and total carnage from the days before the rule, so why enforce it now? And if NASCAR does enforce it, get it right more often. Though it looks like NASCAR is now doing just that. Kurt Busch was warned for dropping below the yellow on Saturday. Drivers -- such as Tony Stewart -- have been penalized for far less obvious infractions at that track. Hopefully this is not a sign of inconsistency, but rather NASCAR's evolving and appropriate interpretation of its rule. Really, if a driver is forced below the yellow, he shouldn't advance any positions -- ever. Let NASCAR penalize the driver who blocked his rival below the yellow. But Cup drivers should know well enough by now that advancing down there could bring on more problems than that one spot is worth. Again, isn't it ironic that NASCAR's biggest event and the three other races similar to it are so different from what NASCAR racing really is all about? Apparently, that's what makes winning at Daytona so rewarding. The Daytona 500 and Pepsi 400 are races that are nearly impossible to win (Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip excluded). It's a crapshoot with a huge reward. But NASCAR is working on making these races a bit less of a crapshoot. Looking for progress? Saturday's race wasn't it, though the past few plate races have been a bit closer to "normal." So it seems, thankfully, that NASCAR isn't just driving around in circles on this one. EXHAUST FUMES Pissy Petty: Kyle Petty ripped engine builder Mike Egge for the team's poor performance at Daytona. Team drivers Christian Fittipaldi and Shane Hmiel failed to qualify for Saturday's race while Petty himself got in on a provisional. "We come out this year and we struggled with our cars and our guys ... worked 24 hours a day nearly to get the cars ready," Petty told the Charlotte Observer. "At the same time our engines have got worse and worse and worse." With a team in such constant disarray as Petty Enterprises, Kyle Petty apparently feels it necessary to start slinging mud. Several reports even claimed that Petty had Egge pushed up against a fence during an animated discussion between the two. "You can't change lanes every time something doesn't go your way, but by God this is Winston Cup racing and you've got to be competitive," said Petty. What a joke. This team hasn't been competitive for years, but at least Petty has continued to be a class act through and through. Now, after firing John Andretti and blaming everyone in sight except his own organization (which, to be fair, has been the subject of Petty's scorn in the past), Petty's beginning to look as lost off the track as he does on it. Again, to borrow from Newsweek ... OLD: Feeling sorry for John Andretti. NEW: Andretti's lucky to be out of that mess. Oddly enough, Petty finished 23rd on Saturday -- his third-best result of the season. And it could have been a better finish had he not run out of gas. Can't blame poor pit strategy on an engine builder, can ya? Petty has said the day when he steps out of the No. 45 car to focus on ownership duties is nearing, but it won't be this year or next. Maybe that time should be sooner, as Petty seems to be overly-stressed and spread too thin. After all, comments and actions we've seen from Petty lately are totally out of character for a guy who has been among the classiest in the sport. OVERHEARD Gil de Ferran On Scott Dixon's recent IndyCar success: "He's not Darth Vader or anything like that. He's just another guy. He's having a good run." Michel Jourdain Jr. On Cleveland qualifying: "I am not sure what strategy Player's is running, but they are out there blocking everyone. It is frustrating. It isn't like this is a new thing with them." Ricky Craven On being wrecked at Daytona: "We were a victim. Four times a year we race on these restrictor-plate tracks, and you have to expect it when you least expect it, and that was the case here."

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