Spouse: Linda Kids: Landon Lee Hometown: Chesapeake, VA Birthdate: September 12, 1956 Personal Vehicle: Ford F-150, Ford Windstar Hobbies: Flying

Ricky Rudd was thrilled and disappointed at the same time in 2000, his first season back as a driver-for-hire after he sold his own Winston Cup team and went to work for team owner Robert Yates.

Rudd couldn't complain much, as he was in a position to win numerous times and scored his best championship finish, fifth, since 1994. That was his first of six years as his own car owner. Rudd ended up with 12 top-5 and 19 top-10 finishes and had only one DNF -- but he failed to win a race for the second straight season after winning in 16 consecutive years.

Rudd proved he and crew chief Michael McSwain would be contenders in 2001 with their late season performance in Yates' No. 28 Ford. Rudd proved good things could happen when he was in contention for the win when he wrecked and slid on his roof at Daytona in the season-opening Bud Shootout. He also won one of two 125-mile qualifying races at Daytona in his second start with his new team. However, they got off to a slow start, scoring just two top-10 finishes in his first nine races.

Rudd and McSwain turned things around with consecutive fourth-place finishes at California and Richmond. They had five top-five finishes in six races in September and October to climb from seventh to fifth in points and Rudd was on his way to victory at Phoenix before running into someone else's wreck. He ended the season with two poles, won a career-best $2,974,970 and finished in the top-10 in points for the 17th time in his career.

Rudd, a former motocross and kart racer who considers his first win as an owner in 1994 and his first with Richard Childress in 1983 as big moments in his career, got his big break in racing in October 1980. He took an old, family-owned car to Charlotte and qualified it on the outside pole, eventually finishing fourth. It earned him a job driving for DiGard in 1981.