Glory Days: Jerry Nadeau's Near Upset at the 2002 Dodge/Save Mart 350

(Photo by Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images)

It had been three years since the NASCAR world had seen life from Petty Enterprises.

The No. 44 car was a joke.

The Petty team had a dismal five top-10s in the last three years. Buckshot Jones was fired from that ride after seven races in 2002, and Steve Grissom took over until Sears Point. (Yes, it was called that back then!)

That's when Richard Petty hired Jerry Nadeau to drive his No. 44 car.

Nadeau had been through a lot in 2002. He started the year off driving Rick Hendrick's No. 25 Chevrolet, a car he had won in at the end of 2000. Nadeau was fired after Richmond and drove Nelson Bowers' No. 10 car for two races after that.

Then came Sears Point.

Nadeau took the ride for Petty Enterprises basically because he had nothing else. He was known for his road course talent—even though he never really finished that great there. Nadeau's eighth place finish in 2000 was his only top-10 at Sears Point.

However, Petty took a chance with the 32-year-old from Danbury, Conn.—a chance that almost paid off.

When the green flag dropped on the 2002 Dodge/Save Mart 350, Jeff Gordon looked to be the favorite, leading 31 laps early. Jerry Nadeau had started 22nd and moved his way up through the field.

Then, with just 22 laps to go, came a big time surprise.

Jerry Nadeau's No. 44 car zoomed by former owner Bill Elliott, took the lead, and started pulling away. Elliott would fall back and surrender second place to Ricky Rudd.

Nadeau was dominating. Smiles came on the faces of Petty Enterprises and the No. 44 team.

The NASCAR world was shocked.

The intensity picked up, and as the laps clicked away, it looked more and more like an upset was coming. The fans at the track that June 23 day were clapping and cheering, thinking they were going to witness history.

But with two laps to go, the unthinkable happened.

As Nadeau passed the start-finish line with two laps to go, his No. 44 Dodge slid and spun while going into turn 11 after he locked up the gear.

Nadeau's Dodge came to rest on the asphalt island, the victim of a rear-end gear failure. 

The upset that had seemed a foregone conclusion was over.

Millions of NASCAR fans watched as Ricky Rudd's Havoline/Texaco's Ford took the checkered flag and ended what would have been the greatest upset in NASCAR history.

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