MOTOR RACING / NASCAR AT SEARS POINT : Rudd’s Record Run Takes Pole From Irvan

Ricky Rudd, the next-to-last of 44 qualifiers, broke the Sears Point International track record with a lap of 90.985 m.p.h. Friday and won the pole for Sunday’s $727,386 Save Mart 300 Winston Cup stock car race.

It was the third consecutive year that the Chesapeake, Va., veteran, driving a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, had won the pole at Sears Point, one of only two road race courses on the NASCAR schedule. His 1-minute 39.709-second lap around the 13-turn, 2.52-mile course in the rolling hills of the Sonoma valley bettered his speed of 90.954 m.p.h., set in 1990.

Until Rudd’s late run, it appeared that Ernie Irvan, in another Chevrolet, would take the pole with a 90.366 lap early in the day. He will start alongside Rudd on Sunday.

Fords have dominated the first 11 races of the season, winning nine, but the fastest Ford Friday was Bill Elliott’s, in fifth position. Rusty Wallace, in a Pontiac, and another Chevy, driven by Darrell Waltrip, filled the second row.

Defending champion Davey Allison, the Winston Cup points leader, qualified 10th in his Ford. “I can’t say it was uneventful, but I had to be careful about how aggressive I could be on the tires,” Rudd said, referring to the initial use of radial tires on the Sears Point course. “I buckled up and went on my attack mode. I really expected the radials to be more treacherous than they were.”

Dale Jarrett, driving Washington Redskin Coach Joe Gibbs’ Chevrolet, had the day’s most unusual moment. During morning practice, Jarrett was racing through the north end of the track when a deer jumped over the fence and ran in his path.

“The deer came right off the hill,” the startled Jarrett said. “He made one leap and landed in front of me. I swerved to miss him, but I still grazed him with my left front fender. I don’t know how badly I hurt him because I looked back and he’d gotten up. This place is hard enough to drive without dodging deer.”

Only the first 25 qualifiers clinched berths in Sunday’s race, but most of the non-qualifiers, including Richard Petty, defending Winston West champion Bill Sedgwick and 1992 points leader Rick Carelli, are expected to stand on their Friday times and easily make the 40-car field. Drivers can make another qualifying attempt today if they wish.