Rudd’s the Recipient of an Unexpected Gift

In 1989, Ricky Rudd won the first NASCAR race at Sears Point Raceway, one of two road courses on the Winston Cup schedule.

On Sunday, Rudd won the first NASCAR race at Infineon Raceway, as of Saturday the new name for the picturesque, two-mile hillside circuit in Sonoma Valley that has been called Sears Point all these years.

It wasn’t easy, but it was unexpected.

Jerry Nadeau, a road-racing specialist filling in for Steve Grissom in one of the Petty Enterprises Dodges, was cruising along with a six-second lead with only three laps remaining in the Dodge-Save Mart 350 when he suddenly pulled his car into the infield and stopped.

“I spun the tires coming out of [Turn] 11 and felt something tighten up and the rear end broke,” a disappointed Nadeau said. “The car started vibrating real bad with about four laps to go. I thought it was the fuel pressure, but it wasn’t. I’ve had this kind of luck happen to me before.”

Last year, at Atlanta, Nadeau was leading with one lap to go and ran out of fuel.

Rudd, 45, was sympathetic to his 31-year-old rival, having been in that situation many times in his 27-year career, but was more than happy to accept his first win in nearly a year. It was the 23rd time Rudd had taken the checkered flag, beginning with the 1983 race at Riverside International Raceway, NASCAR’s first road course.

“I hate to win one that way,” Rudd, who was driving a Ford, said. “We were running Jerry down, but we didn’t have the time to catch him. You hate to see misfortune come those guys’ way, but we’ve lost some races the last three weekends under very similar conditions.

“We were sort of resigned to the fact that we had run out of time and were gonna run second and, all of a sudden, he pulled over and we won the race. It’s not something you want to go bragging about and be proud of it, but again, we’ve had some races where we led the most laps and didn’t win.”

Pole-sitter Tony Stewart, who looked like a winner in the early stages of the race before dropping as far back as 19th, battled back to finish second.

“Not bad, a first and a second in the same weekend,” said Stewart, who won a U.S. Auto Club sprint car race Saturday night at Altamont Raceway. “This is probably one of the most physically demanding races of the year for us because you’re shifting, you’re going uphill, downhill. There is just no place to really take a break to let your arms and body relax.”

The race seemed to break up in segments.

Jeff Gordon dominated the first 30 laps and was leading when he went to the garage with a broken rear end. Then young Kurt Busch, in his second season, took over and led 27 laps until he pitted during a yellow caution flag and came out seventh.

Busch finished fourth, just behind veteran Terry Labonte.

After Busch’s run, it was John Andretti’s turn to look like a winner in another of Petty’s Dodges. He led 14 laps but also suffered from a slow pit stop. When he pitted with all the leaders, he was the last one out and was never able to recover from 13th place. He finished 10th.

That was when Nadeau, who did not pit on the final caution flag, assumed the lead.

“We took a chance and it almost paid off,” Nadeau said. “Me and Greg [crew chief Steadman] started talking and he told me to stay out. It turned out we had plenty of fuel. I just spun the gear. It was weird. I’m usually pretty easy on equipment unless I wreck. Unfortunately it didn’t work that way this time, but that’s kind of the way my career has gone.”

Nadeau, who has been unemployed since being let go by Hendrick Motorsports last month, plans to test with Michael Waltrip today for a race July 14 in Chicago.

It was a bad day for the Winston Cup points leaders.

Sterling Marlin, who has led since the second race of the season, finished last after his Dodge ran over a bunch of rocks when he spun in the dirt. One of them knocked off the water pump and after a few laps it cooked the engine.

Despite suffering the first DNF of the season, Marlin retained his lead as most of his challengers fared nearly as poorly.

Teammates Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, who had been tied for second, finished 37th and 35th, respectively, enabling Mark Martin, who finished seventh, to take over second place, 62 points behind Marlin.