Rudd breaks his RYR duck.

After a year and a half running at the very front of the NASCAR Winston Cup field, Ricky Rudd finally scored his first win for Robert Yates Racing and brought the famous Texaco Havoline No.28 Ford back to victory lane in Sunday's Pocono 500 at the Pocono Raceway.

In a reversal of last weekend's finish at the Kmart 400 at Michigan, Ricky Rudd beat Jeff Gordon to the finish line to score his first win for Robert Yates Racing and his first NWC win since Martinsville in the autumn of 1998 after taking pole position and leading the final 23 laps of Sunday's 200-lap Pocono 500 around the unique triangle shaped 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway.

Rudd finally crossed the line with more than 1.5-seconds to spare over Gordon, who pipped him to the flag by less than two tenths of a second last week to put the No.28 Ford Taurus into the winner's circle for the first time since 1997 while Gordon extended his points lead over third place finisher Dale Jarrett by a couple of points after leading a race high 89 laps.

The No.24 Hendrick Motorsports DuPont Chevrolet once again looked like it was capable of running away with the race and Gordon at times looked like a dead cert for his third win in succession but Rudd gamely plugged away and simply refused to lose this time after watching at least half a dozen potential race wins slip through his fingers since the start of the 2000 season.

Jarrett's UPS RYR Ford was nearly six seconds behind his team-mate at the flag after losing substantial ground to the leading two after Rudd passed him for the lead on lap 177 while the consistent Sterling Marlin held of Mark Martin for fourth place in the leading Dodge.

Matt Kenseth finished a season-high sixth in his DeWalt Ford while Joe Gibbs team-mates Tony Stewart and Bobby Labonte battled home in seventh and eighth places respectively as their mid-season recovery continues. Completing the top ten in a race that was slowed by seven caution periods and featured 13 lead changes amongst five drivers were Ken Schrader and Jeff Burton who both ran in and around the top ten all day.

Dave Blaney was once again a prominent figure in the leading Bill Davis owned Dodge and he came home in eleventh place but was almost half a minute down at the flag while the only other drivers to go the full 200-laps were Mike Skinner, Kurt Busch, Robert Presley and Kevin Harvick.

Rusty Wallace and Dale Earnhardt Jr both found their racing luck missing and finished a lap down in 16th and 20th places respectively with Earnhardt Jr's No.8 Budweiser Chevy looking like the class of the field for the third consecutive week in the early stages before dropping back with a variety of handling problems that afflict many drivers around this unique circuit.

Rick Mast drove exceptionally well to finish 22nd in the Midwest Transit Chevrolet while the returning Wally Dallenbach drove from 43rd to 18th inside the opening 40 laps in the No.33 Andy Petree Racing Chevrolet before eventually finishing 26th while Casey Atwood won the award for most unlucky driver of the day after his Ray Evernham Dodge popped a motor in the closing stages as the young rookie was on course for his first career NWC top ten finish.

There was but one multi car accident during the race and even that had a somewhat comical side to it as Brett Bodine lost control of his No.11 Ford coming off the tunnel turn shortly after the lap 50 mark sending the second half of the field scuttling to avoid the carnage. At least a dozen driver decided to go to the low side and instead found a very wet section of grass, soaked by a rain storm on Saturday night and the fans were treated to NASCAR's version of the 'Nutcracker' as the brutish stock cars were sent pirouetting every which way but loose on their slick tyres with absolutely zero traction. Casualties were few but Bodine, Ward Burton and John Andretti spent many laps behind the wall before returning to the track after one of the most graceful accidents for many years.