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.

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. More