T.J.’s Notebook: 2018 Changes Starting to Take Place

By T.J. Buffenbarger The question of what Joey Saldana would be up to in 2018 was partially answered with Rudeen Racing’s announcement of fielding a two car team next year. Saldana will team up with Rob Hart spinning the wrenches for a 50-60 race effort while current Rudeen driver Tayler Malsam will drive a team car in the same number of shows. Rudeen joins several other high profile teams such as Tod Quiring’s Big Game Treestands/Muddy Trail Cameras effort and (insert team here) in contesting a large number of high profile races, but not contesting the entire World of Outlaws circuit. Rudeen’s has fielded cars since their National Sprint Tour effort in 2006 on a regional capacity with various drivers including Rutz, often coming to the Midwest around the time of the Month of Money. This will be Rudeen’s most aggressive effort since that run with the NST. In the near future I’m going to be pay close attention to the schedule teams put together with the proliferation of bigger paying events like the Tuscarora 50 at Port Royal Speedway and the World Championship at Mansfield Motor Speedway. Throw in a mix of regular higher paying regional series events that [...]