NASCAR’s longest-running active driver, Ricky Rudd, will call it quits at the end of this season.
Rudd, 49, who has driven in NASCAR’s top series since he was 18 and has 23 wins, had hinted all year he wanted to retire.
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“I have not taken a vacation or sick day in nearly 30 years of racing,” he said Tuesday in a statement.
He delayed his announcement to see whether owner Roger Penske would need him as an interim replacement for Rusty Wallace next year.
Sunday’s Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix will mark Rudd’s 785th consecutive start, a NASCAR record. All he has to do the following week is start the season-ending Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami to complete 25 years without missing a Cup race.
From 1983-98, Rudd went 16 straight years with at least one Cup win.