Ricky Rudd certainly pleased his sponsor -- Motorcraft -- when he drove his Thunderbird to a first-place finish at the Motorcraft 500 at Atlanta International Speedway. Rudd, 30, of Chesapeake, Va., won with an average speed of 133.689 m.p.h. to pocket the $62,400 top prize. . . . Davey Allison, who finished one lap behind Rudd, also made a big splash in the 500-mile race for his new sponsor, Havoline, by finishing fifth, his best showing to date. Davey, the 26-year-old son of Bobby Allison, began his rookie Winston Cup season in the Ranier/Lundy-owned T-Bird without the financial backing of a major sponsor. When Allison replaced Yarborough as the driver for the Ranier/Lundy team, Yarborough took the Hardee's/Coca-Cola sponso rship with him to start up his own team, leaving Davey without a sponsor at the beginning of the season. However, he was able to win the support of Texaco for the Atlanta race after his successful outings in Daytona, where he sat on the outside pole; and at the Goodwrench 500 in Rockingham, N.C., where he won his first pole.
1 Ricky Rudd
2 Benny Parsons
3 Rusty Wallace
4 Terry Labonte
5 Davey Allison
6 Darrell Waltrip
7 Neil Bonnett
8 Cale Yarborough
9 Kyle Petty
10 Morgan Shepherd
11 Rick Wilson
12 Ron Bouchard
13 Sterling Marlin
14 Richard Petty
15 Geoff Bodine
16 Dale Earnhardt
17 Tommy Ellis
18 H.B. Baily
19 Bobby Allison
20 A.J. Foyt
22 Steve Christman
23 D.K. Ulrich
24 Bobby Hillin
25 Mike Potter
26 Ken Ragen
27 Phil Parsons
28 Bill Elliott
29 Ken Schrader
30 Mark Stahl
31 Dave Marcis
32 Jimmy Means
33 Alan Kulwicki
34 Harry Gant
35 Lake Speed
36 Derrike Cope
37 Greg Sacks
38 Buddy Baker
39 Michael Waltrip
40 J.D. McDuffie
41 Connie Saylor
Time Of Race: 3 hours, 44 minutes, 2 seconds
Average Speed : 133.689 mph
Margin Of Victory: 41 seconds