Rudd wins on the road as Nadeau fades

SONOMA, Calif. -- Jerry Nadeau never saw Ricky Rudd cross the finish line in Sunday's Dodge/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.

That's because his head was bowed as he slowly exited his No. 44 Georgia Pacific Dodge as it sat inside the road course, the victim of rear-end gear failure.

	Ricky Rudd earned his second career victory at Sonoma. Credit: Autostock

Two minutes earlier, Nadeau had been the one on the way to Victory Lane as he led Rudd by nearly four seconds with only two laps to go.

Nadeau, a one-race fill-in for Steve Grissom, was bidding for his first victory since 2000 and the first win for Petty Enterprises since 1999. Instead, he finished 34th, while Rudd left to celebrate his first win of the year.

It was an ironic twist for Rudd, who lost chances for victory at Dover and Pocono when bad luck victimized him. This time, he was the benefactor.

"We were not going to catch him," said Rudd, who won the inaugural Winston Cup event at the 1.99-mile road course in 1989. "I hate to win it this way, but we will take it."

"We have lost some races under similar conditions. He pulled over, we won the race. It's not something you brag about."

Nadeau could barely hide his disappointment in the garage area following the race.

"It always seems to happen to me," Nadeau said. "I'll tell you what -- the guys gave me an awesome race car. I guess we had the race won. All of a sudden, I spun the gear and blew the rear end."

Ricky Rudd crests the hill on his way to victory Sunday. Credit: Autostock

Pole-sitter Tony Stewart was second, 2.487 seconds behind Rudd, and Terry Labonte finished third after staying out on the track as the field made their final pit stops.

It was Labonte's first top-five finish since 2001.

"It's all track position," said Labonte, who started 39th. "We knew we had a better car than we qualified."

Kurt Busch ran in the top five most of the day and finished fourth. Jeff Green finished fifth after also electing to retain track position on the final stop. Green scored his first top-five finish of the year.

"I never dreamed my first top-five of the year would be on a road course," said Green, who scored just the second top-five of the year for Richard Childress Racing. "That was a great call to stay out there with old tires."

Staying out was exactly the strategy Nadeau used to gain the lead on lap 85, when all the front-runners dove onto pit road for the final stop.

Jerry Nadeau's crew was cheering him on during the final laps. Credit: Autostock

The race stayed green the rest of the way, allowing those who stayed out to keep valuable track position.

Rudd had taken on four tires on the final stop and came out eighth, but his black No. 28 Havoline Ford came through the field to second with five laps to go.

Rudd had set his sights on Nadeau, who had overcome a mid-race spin.

However, Rudd would not have caught Nadeau, whose car had run exceptionally well at the front of the pack while Rudd was left to deal with heavy traffic.

"Jerry Nadeau made the right call," Rudd said. "Track position was so important. We had to race a lot of cars to get back to the pack."

	Jerry Nadeau had the win in the bag before mechanical problems ended his day two laps early. Credit: Autostock

On lap 108, Nadeau eased his car into Turn 11 and began the steep right-hand turn when the gear locked up. His car swung around and came to rest inside the track on the vast asphalt that was once known as "Gilligan's Island."

Nadeau's career is in limbo after being handed his release from Hendrick Motorsports last month. He will drive a Michael Waltrip-owned car at Chicago next month but has no other immediate plans.

"That's kind of the way my career has gone," said Nadeau, who lost a victory at Atlanta last fall when he ran out of gas on the final lap. "I had a five-second lead. I'm humble about it."

Jeff Gordon led more laps than anyone else -- 30 -- but his rear-end gear failed and he lost seven laps in the garage as his crew made repairs. He finished 37th.

Points leader Sterling Marlin's day ended early when he lost the power steering and water pump belts on lap 11, then returned to the track only to have the engine on his Dodge expire shortly thereafter. He finished last.