He had his own team from 1994-1999. The vast majority of his career was driving for someone, and most of that was with top teams. Your timelines are off here.
Bobby Allison takes his ride at DiGard and wins a lot. Earnhardt takes his ride at RCR and wins a lot. Morgan Shepherd and Geoff Bodine won at about the same rate as him after he left Bud Moore. Terry Labonte took over the 5 and wins a lot.
I was a Ricky Rudd fan, but saying he drove for low budget operations most of his career is simply not true. He mostly drove for top teams and won a race or two per year with them.
Bobby Allison & Dale Earnhardt some of the greatest drivers ever. RCR was never really a top team. Just looked like it because Dale Sr. was the man. No one says Rudd is as good as those guys. Geoff Bodine is the reason Hendrick stayed in business of racing. Terry Labonte is a championship driver & a HOF worthy driver. (also underrated) but BTW, Rudd still has more total wins than Labonte, even in lesser equipment.
the 26 team not a good team but he still raced for wins.
When with hendricks was during the time when Hendricks wasnt a championship caliber organization yet. DW, Rudd, Bodine, Schrader, Richmond, none of them could get a championship in those cars. (partly because of Earnhardt but still) Rudd did manage to finish 2nd in points for Hendricks though. then went back to being a small time operation with his own team & kept winning every year in spite of this. At actually racing tracks, not Daytona or dega where anyone on a given day could win.
you know how many wins Bud Moore had after Rudd left (ever). 4 total. Brett Bodine had zero, Sheppard had one win. Geoff Bodine had 3. Rudd had 6 wins for them. So Rudd had 6 wins in 4 years & Moore after had 4 wins in 6 years after. Moore's team isnt even worth talking about after Bodine.
Bud Moore was not a major team when Rudd raced for them. & the Bud moore team became less & less significant after Rudd left (Sheppard did have a good season though) The great Dale Earnhardt had 3 wins for Bud Moore & then replaced Rudd at RCR because Bud moore team wasnt as good as RCR. Bud Moore is a historical team. No doubt. But wasnt even close to a top team at that time.
Hendricks didnt become the Hendrick we all know of nowadays until mid to late 90's somewhat thanks to Gordon & Labonte & Ray Evernham. Personally I think Rudd & DW fucked up by deciding to start their own teams. HMS was only gonna get better & was finally starting to make money. So you knew they would become a top team. But back then it was becoming kind of the trend with good veterans to attempt their own teams. The 90's money was booming.
When he raced for the wood brothers. That was a shell of a team Decent but underfunded in comparisons (small budget)
If he would have raced for yates for the majority of his career, like many of the drivers today who only race for top teams. His stats would be astounding.
He won 16 years in a row. Only a couple drivers can ever claim that. (many years with weak teams)
Again no one is saying he is one of the best ever. I am saying he is absolutely HOF worthy! (& underrated) I watched all these guys from way back when I had to watch parts of races on wide world of sports, sufering through gymnastics & ice skating waiting for the show to go back to the race. Until they started showing live racing. I dont need to read a book to which teams were the strong teams & which werent. Or when the teams that werent that strong started becoming powerhouses.
On a side note. He raced all the greats throughout his whole career & still managed to win every year.
the petty's (although on the back end but Richard still won championship.), DW, Earnhardt, Yarborough, Allison, Elliott, Wallace was hot for awhile, Gordon, Jimmie Johnson. All these guys at times dominated wins in a year, making it less of a chance for a smaller team to win, but he still managed every year.
