LONG POND — Chip Ganassi was having fun Friday with reports that his NASCAR operation will expand to three teams for the 2003 season. The rumor mill has Ricky Rudd joining Ganassi's racing stable in a third team that will bring along Rudd's Texaco/Havoline sponsorship. Ganassi, who was at Pocono Raceway to watch qualifying for the Pennsylvania 500, was willing to talk about plans for a third car, but not for next year. "The only third team right now is at Watkins Glen," Ganassi said, as he sat on the rear steps of a team transporter. "We're going to run Scott Pruett in a third car and nothing outside of that." Pruett, a long-time road-racing specialist, will be added because Watkins Glen is a road course. Ganassi's regular drivers are Sterling Marlin, who leads the season points race in Winston Cup, and Jimmy Spencer, who is a disappointing 23rd in the point standings. Where Marlin has been the picture of consistency, with 10 top-10 finishes and 15 top-15 finishes in 19 races, Spencer began the season by failing to qualify for the Daytona 500 and has managed just two top-10 finishes this season. Marlin qualified in the 13th spot yesterday, and Spencer was 35th, nearly a full second behind Bill Elliott's pole time of 52.765 seconds for a 170.568 mph average speed on the 2 1/2-mile tri-oval. "That's embarrassing," Spencer said of his 53.739-second qualifying time. An alternate version of the Rudd rumor has him claiming Spencer's ride, although Spencer reportedly is signed through next season. Asked again about Rudd joining his operation in 2003, Ganassi said, "I don't know. Right now, our focus is on Sterling and getting him to stay ahead in this points run and proving that the first half of the season wasn't a fluke. "That's the first thing we've got to do. The second thing is to get Spencer up front and get him some wins before the year is over. And that's kind of where our focus is right now." Rudd's anticipated departure from Robert Yates Racing, either by virtue of a team change or a retirement, has been a long-running saga of this Winston Cup season. There have been reports of friction with crew chief Michael "Fatback" McSwain. Rudd, who had led with five laps remaining in the June Pocono race only to fall to a 17th-place finish because of a flat tire, was quickest in the practice session yesterday and qualified second. But it was talk of his future, not his present, that dominated the day's conversation. "Hopefully, we'll find out by Indianapolis (the next weekend's race)," Rudd said. "I think everything will be pretty clear by then. There are still a lot of things up in the air right now, so I can't really comment a whole lot, but, hopefully, next week we can lay all this to rest." Ganassi professed surprise at Rudd's Indianapolis time frame. "Is that what he said?" Ganassi said. "Well, good luck." The Rudd uncertainty is holding up a series of other anticipated driver moves, beginning with Elliott Sadler leaving the Wood Brothers team and taking Rudd's place, but under M&M's sponsorship. Rudd, who finished fourth in the season standings last season with two wins and 14 top-five finishes, is sixth just past the midway point of this season, with one win and five top-five finishes. At 45 years of age, Rudd said retirement remains an option. "It's not a bartering card, but it's the card that I'll play if I can't get with a team that's capable of winning races right out of the box," he said. "If that team is not there and it takes two or three years for the build-up process, I probably don't have three years of a build-up process in me."

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