Tide Ride

The Tide Ride is a nickname given to any NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car that has carried the sponsorship of the detergent brand Tide, a subsidiary of Procter & Gamble over the years.

The Tide Ride visited victory lane 20 times in three different car makes since the first Tide-sponsored car made its debut in what was then the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.

Car History

Car #17

The first "Tide Ride" belonged to Hendrick Motorsports, and was formed in 1987. The Chevrolet bore #17 and was driven by veteran NASCAR driver Darrell Waltrip. The ride's first season was a success, as Waltrip won once, collected six top fives and 16 top tens, and finished fourth in series points. Waltrip followed that up with a 1988 campaign with two wins and a seventh place points finish.

The Tide Ride's biggest success came in 1989. The year began with Waltrip's first ever victory in the Daytona 500, and continued throughout the season as Waltrip gathered five additional wins, finishing fourth in the points standings for the second time in three years. The success was furthered when Waltrip, who for years was one of the most hated men in NASCAR, was voted the Most Popular Driver for the first time in his career.

1990 saw the Tide Ride go through several drivers. Waltrip started the year in the car, but suffered a major injury in a wreck at Daytona during Pepsi 400 practice. Waltrip would miss six races with both of his arms and one of his legs broken in the accident. To compensate for Waltrip's absence, Hendrick split the driving time between three drivers. Jimmy Horton subbed for Waltrip at the Pepsi 400, and also took the ride at Pocono and Talladega, with Greg Sacks running at Michigan, Bristol, and Darlington. Road course ringer Sarel van der Merwe was hired for the Watkins Glen road race. Overall, the team, led by Jeff Hammond, finished in fifth place in the owner points standings, calculated by all drivers -- including substitute drivers Horton, van der Merwe, and Sacks -- in that car for the season. Sacks picked up one top five finish and Waltrip finished the season in 20th place, with five top fives.

Car #5

Waltrip left Hendrick Motorsports after 1990 to form his own team, taking the #17 with him. Hendrick merged Waltrip's old team with his primary team at the time, the Ricky Rudd-piloted Levi Garrett Tobacco #5, and carried the Tide sponsorship over to the #5.

Rudd took Hendrick's Tide Ride to its best season standingswise in 1991. He would finish second in the Winston Cup points behind Dale Earnhardt, winning once and finishing with 9 top fives and 17 top tens.

Rudd would spend two more seasons with Hendrick's Tide Ride. In 1992 and 1993, Rudd had almost identical numbers to those he had in 1991 (1 win and 9 top 5s all three years, 18 top tens in 1992 and 14 in 1993), but they were only good enough for seventh and tenth in the final standings, respectively.

Car #10

Rudd left Hendrick Motorsports to form Rudd Performance Motorsports in 1994, taking the Tide sponsorship with him to his new Ford team.

In his first season as an owner-driver, Rudd posted his sixth consecutive finish in the top ten in final points, finishing fifth and continuing his streak of winning at least one race in consecutive seasons, having done so every year since 1983.

1995 saw Rudd 9th in Winston Cup points at the end of the season, with his winning streak still intact. Rudd added 10 top 5s and 16 top 10s. In 1996, his top ten and winning streaks continued, with him finishing sixth in the final standings with 16 total top tens (5 top fives).

Rudd's 1997 season was a mixed bag. He won twice, continuing his consecutive wins streak, including a win in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. That win would be the highest point of Rudd's season, and he would be eighth in points after the race. The rest of the season proved to be a downward slide, as Rudd fell nine spots to finish 17th at the end of the season, the first time since 1988 that he had failed to finish in the top 10 in the Winston Cup points.

The Tide Ride suffered through another low season in 1998. Rudd took the car to victory lane at Martinsville in the fall (despite suffering from heat exhaustion and collapsing in victory lane following the race), but only finished in the top 10 four other times and ended up 22nd in points.

Rudd's wins streak ended in 1999, as his team finished 31st in the standings. It would also be the last season Rudd would be in the Tide Ride, as he sold Rudd Performance Motorsports to Robert Yates Racing after the season and became the driver of the team's #28 Havoline Ford.

Car #32

Tide's sponsorship moved to the new PPI Motorsports team in 2000, with former Champ Car driver Scott Pruett driving and the number #32 on the side of PPI's Ford Taurus. Pruett did not fare well in his first NASCAR season, and after a season where he finished 37th in points, he was released in favor of Ricky Craven.

In 2001, Craven took the Tide Ride to victory lane for PPI in the Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville, his first career Winston Cup win and the first time a Tide-sponsored car had won since 1998. He finished the season with three more top fives and 7 total top tens, bringing home a 21st place finish in the points in his first full season back in NASCAR after suffering an injury in 1998 and racing for teams that hadn't had proper sponsorship.

Craven's success continued in 2002, where he brought PPI to its highest points finish, 15th. It was the first time the Tide Ride had been in the top 20 in points in 5 years.

The Tide Ride became a Pontiac in 2003, and Craven won its final race at Darlington in the spring, beating Kurt Busch by a nose at the finish where both cars bumped and banged each other all the way to the finish line. This would also be the final victory for Pontiac in NASCAR, as GM pulled the brand from the sport after the 2003 season (forcing all teams using Pontiacs to shift to Chevrolet).

The Darlington win would be the highest point of a disappointing season, as Craven dropped to 27th in points.

Craven's struggles continued in 2004, and midway through the season he was released from the Tide Ride, with Bobby Hamilton, Jr. coming on to replace him. Hamilton would stay with the car for the next season and a half, failing to score a top ten finish. After a 36th place points finish in 2005, Hamilton was released.

PPI hired former Penske Racing driver and NASCAR Craftsman Truck series champion Travis Kvapil to drive the Tide Ride in 2006. Kvapil had the same amount of success that Hamilton had, which was none. Kvapil failed to qualify for three races, didn't run two others (the road course races, which Ron Fellows ran), and finished 36th in driver points.

End of the Tide Ride

After 2006, Tide announced it would be leaving NASCAR after a 20 year association with the sport. PPI couldn't continue racing without a sponsor, and after trying (and failing) to secure sponsorship, it laid off most of its staff and merged operations with Michael Waltrip Racing, transferring the #32's owner points to Waltrip's #00 Toyota driven by David Reutimann.

Tide Ride wins

Darrell Waltrip

*1987, 1988, and 1989 Goody's 500 at Martinsville
*1988 and 1989 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte
*1989 Daytona 500
*1989 Motorcraft 500 at Atlanta
*1989 Pannill Sweatshirts 500 at Martinsville
*1989 Busch 500 at Bristol

Ricky Rudd

*1991 TranSouth 500 at Darlington
*1992 Peak 500 at Dover
*1993 Miller 400 at Michigan
*1994 Slick 50 300 at Loudon
*1995 Dura Lube 500 at Phoenix
*1996 AC Delco 400 at Rockingham
*1997 Miller 500 at Dover
*1997 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis
*1998 NAPA Autocare 500 at Martinsville

Ricky Craven

*2001 Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville
*2003 Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 at Darlington