Rudd wins Richmond war.

Ricky Rudd barged his way past Kevin Harvick with five laps remaining in Saturday's Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400 at the Richmond International Raceway to win his second race of the year and gain a bunch of points on Jeff Gordon who was the victim of one of the races many accidents and finished more than 100 laps down in 36th position.

Saturday night's Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400 at the three-quarter mile Richmond International Raceway saw NASCAR Winston Cup racing 'old school' style with plenty of hard fought, wheel to wheel action and a good deal of physical contact around the compact Speedbowl.

Entering the race pole sitter and points leader Jeff Gordon knew that although his 342 point lead over Ricky Rudd looked reasonably safe and secure, there were a number of races among the eleven remaining on the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup calendar where it would be only too easy to lose a whole bunch of points to his nearest pursuers. Richmond was one of those races and unfortunately Gordon's worst fears were realised when after just 35 of the scheduled 400 laps the Hendrick Motorsports driver was tapped from behind by third place starter Sterling Marlin while running in second place. Although the initial contact was light, Gordon's No.24 DuPont Chevrolet took a vicious lick into the outside wall and the points leader was forced to spend more than 100 laps behind the pitwall as the team completed re[airs.

Taking full advantage of Gordon's misfortunes, ninth place start Rudd kept himself in contention all day, leading laps 96-171, 377-382 and finally the final five tours to record his first victory at Richmond since 1984 and his first win in his home state of Virginia since he took the victory spoils at Martinsville in 1998. Gordon's point lead may still be a somewhat daunting 220 points after the three-time NWC Champ struggled home in 36th position in his hastily repaired machine.

The race looked like belonging to short track master Rusty Wallace for the majority of the night for after muscling his way past Gordon for the lead on lap 19 the Penske Racing driver led a total of 276 laps and dominated the second half of the event. However Wallace was never allowed to relax and was not able to build a comfortable lead at any point.

After absorbing some intense pressure from the fast rising Ron Hornaday in the opening 100 laps, Wallace then fended off race long challenges from Rudd, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Kevin Harvick and Jimmy Spencer only to finally drive his No.2 Miller Lite Ford too hard into the first corner on lap 377 and drop to fifth. Quite how Wallace was able to keep his wildly loose car off the turn two wall as the back end stepped around on him is something only he knows but by the time the 1989 Winston Cup Champion had regained momentum, any hopes of a win had gone. Wallace eventually came home a despondent fifth, knowing that one single error cost him a second victory of the 2001 season.

With Wallace's challenge gone, Rudd assumed the lead in the No.28 Texaco Havoline Ford but his advantage only lasted for five laps before Harvick rudely barged his way into the lead. Already under scrutiny from NASCAR, Harvick's move on Rudd is bound to raise eyebrows as the fiery Richard Childress Racing driver pushed the NWC veteran sideways.

However after a few more laps it was clear that Harvick had been too forceful with his tyres and Rudd slowly began to reel in the No.29 Chevrolet, taking the lead after a slight 'nudge' in turn one at the start of lap 395. Rudd soon distanced himself from the chasing pack and eventually crossed the line just over one second ahead of Harvick.

Harvick encountered yet more robust racing in the final five laps as he defended second place from the first of the Winston No Bull 5 contenders, Earnhardt Jr in the imposing No.8 Budweiser Chevrolet.

Careful to avoid the same kind of attention his driving garnered at Darlington last weekend, Dale Jr was nonetheless quick to improve upon his eighth starting position and moved into the top three before quarter distance where he engaged his some physical yet clean racing with Wallace. The No.8 Chevrolet remained a staple part of the race long battle for the remaining places in the top five behind Wallace during the second half of the race, occasionally threatening the leading Ford but not once finding a way past.

Even with a possible million dollar bonus on the line, Earnhardt Jr could not find a way around Harvick in the last five laps and had to settle for third place at the flag after a good run for the DEI team.

Of the other main suspects in what was a thoroughly gripping duel for the minor places in the top five, Spencer's Travis Carter Ford developed a transmission problem about 100 laps from home leaving 'Mr Excitement' with only second and fourth gears at his disposal. Despite the set back Spencer manhandled the No.26 Ford home to eighth position to complete a satisfactory Richmond weekend following his Busch Grand National triumph on Friday.

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Tony Stewart and Bobby Labonte both had their fair share of spills and thrills during the race and finished ahead of Spencer in sixth and seventh places respectively, Labonte just edging Stewart who rose from 33rd on the starting grid.

Dale Jarrett crept into fourth place almost unnoticed by the rest of the world after spending the first half of the race mired in the lower reaches of the top 20 battling a very loose race car. However in the closing stages Jarrett and the Robert Yates team found a set-up that worked and some good tyres which enabled him to vault past Spencer, Stewart, Labonte and Wallace in the final 50 laps and keep his distant Championship hopes alive.

Behind Spencer in ninth place came Jeff Burton in the leading Roush Racing Ford who had a competitive car but was not able to break into the top five while Johnny Benson completed the top ten.

Ricky Craven was rewarded for a combatative drive in the PPI Motorsports Ford with eleventh position while Ward Burton was caught out by the tenth of twelve caution periods on lap 343 which fell just after he had made his final fuel stop. From being almost a lap behind the leaders, Burton fought back strongly to claim 12th place at the flag with only Jerry Nadeau, Robert Pressley, Joe Nemechek and Bill Elliott joining Burton's No.22 Dodge as lead lap finishers.

As expected the race was a punishing affair and it was the high level of attrition that helped Gordon finish 36th of 43 despite being more than 100 laps behind the winner. Gordon's crash was the first major wall cruncher but more soon followed. Kevin Lepage on lap 93, Elliott Sadler on lap 111 and Mike Wallace on lap116 all had mostly single car crashes but when the previously inspired Hornaday misjudged a move on the lapped car of Buckshot Jones on lap 166, both he, Jones and the unfortunate Matt Kenseth were sent hard into the turn two wall. From 10th on the grid and a place in the top two on lap 50, Hornaday was classified 41st.

John Andretti, Rick Mast, Terry Labonte and Mike Skinner all cut tyres and hit the outside wall, Skinner and Labonte with enough force to eliminate them on the spot while Dave Blaney and Kurt Busch brought out the final accident related caution on lap 361, Blaney suffering the worst and retiring.

A total of 37 cars were circulating at races end with almost a dozen sporting significant battle scars having spent time behind the wall. In fact Jeremy Mayfield who finished 29th after suffering with electrical problems was the last driver to finish within ten laps of Rudd such was the mechanical and accident related attrition.

Ten races now remain in the 2001 season and although Jeff Gordon is still more than a full race ahead of both Rudd and Jarrett, he can now ill afford another poor finish and with Dover, Martinsville and Talladega still to be visited, the 2001 Winston Cup Championship is not over just yet.