MOTOR RACING : Rudd’s Tires Hold Up for Win at Dover

Ricky Rudd won a gamble that his worn tires had enough rubber to finish the race Sunday, breaking a 47-race drought by taking the Peak Antifreeze 500 at Dover Downs International Speedway in Dover, Del.

Rudd held off Bill Elliott by 41-hundredths of a second to win for the first time since April 7, 1991, at Darlington S.C.

“It wasn’t my strategy,” Rudd said. “The guys in the pits made the decision.”

Elliott, who led three times for a total of 261 of the 500 laps, lost the lead when he pitted on Lap 476, taking on four new tires and gas and giving up the top spot to Rudd’s Chevrolet Lumina.

Rudd came into the pits for his final stop on lap 481, but crew chief Gary DeHart chose to stick with the tires the crew put on on lap 389.

“It was slippery, I’ll say that much,” Rudd said. “It wasn’t too bad when I first came out, but the last five laps the tires just went away completely. We asked them to do a lot and they did it.”

Kenny Bernstein set a track record in his top-fuel dragster, driving the quarter-mile in 4.843 seconds at 297.91 m.p.h. to beat Eddie Hill for the division title in the Sonoco Keystone Nationals races in the National Hot Rod Assn. series at Mohnton, Pa.

Cruz Pedregon of Moorpark set an NHRA record in his Olds Cutlass, winning the funny-car division with a time of 5.076 seconds at 288.73 m.p.h. to beat Al Hofmann.

Warren Johnson was the pro-stock winner, driving his Cutlass in 7.165 seconds at 192.84 m.p.h. to beat Jerry Eckman.