1990 Daytona 500

1990 Daytona 500

Race details
Race 1 of 29 in the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Track map of Daytona International Speedway.
Date	February 18, 1990 (1990-02-18)
Location	Daytona International Speedway Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S.
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.023 km)
Distance	200 laps, 500 mi (800 km)
Weather	Temperatures of 82 °F (28 °C); wind speeds of 12 miles per hour (19 km/h)
Average speed	165.761 miles per hour (266.766 km/h)
Pole position
Driver	Ken Schrader	Hendrick Motorsports
Time	196.515 miles per hour (316.260 km/h)
Qualifying race winners
Duel 1 Winner	Geoff Bodine	Junior Johnson & Associates
Duel 2 Winner	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing
Most laps led
Driver	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing
Laps	155
Winner
No. 10	Derrike Cope	Whitcomb Racing
Television in the United States
Network	CBS Sports
Announcers	Ken Squier, Ned Jarrett and Chris Economaki
Nielsen Ratings	7.3/20 (10.5 million viewers)

The 1990 Daytona 500, the 32nd running of the event, was held on February 18, 1990 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida over 200 laps on the 2.5 mile (4 km) asphalt tri-oval. The first race of the 1990 Winston Cup Series season, it was won by Bob Whitcomb's entrant Derrike Cope. Terry Labonte finished second, followed by Bill Elliott, Ricky Rudd, and Dale Earnhardt.

This race was the first Daytona 500 starts for Jimmy Spencer, Rich Bickle, Hut Stricklin, and Jimmy Horton. This was also the only Daytona 500 starts for Butch Miller, Jack Pennington, Jerry O'Neil, and Rob Moroso. And this was the final Daytona 500 starts for Larry Pearson and Mike Alexander. It was also the last Daytona 500 without Dale Jarrett until 2009. This was the second consecutive race that Dale Earnhardt’s car dominated. Earnhardt was able to win the 1989 Atlanta finale but unfortunately he had an issue on the last lap, and lost to Derrike Cope.

Race review

Ken Schrader won his third straight Daytona 500 pole with a speed of 196.515 miles per hour (316.260 km/h). In the Thursday Gatorade 125-mile qualifier, he crashed on the last lap and had to use a backup car on Sunday. He quickly passed several cars at the start. By the first caution flag, Schrader had driven up to second place. Geoff Bodine led the first lap of the race and the season. Two cars used to create film footage for the upcoming movie Days of Thunder, driven by Bobby Hamilton and Tommy Ellis, started the race in the last row, completing 100 miles before parking. Those cars were not listed in the official race results.

On Lap 27, Richard Petty (who started a promising 11th) spun ahead of Phil Parsons while running 13th. The spin left him with all four tires flat, meaning The King would need a wrecker to take him to the pits for new tires, and he would finish well down the order in 34th. During the yellow, Davey Allison (running 6th) pitted with the leaders and hit the pit wall. This was unnoticed by the television broadcast for several minutes; no injuries were reported but Mike Joy confirmed left front toe damage.

On Lap 43, an accident occurred between the tri-oval and Turn 1 involving Mike Alexander, Alan Kulwicki (who would continue), Phil Parsons, and 1989 NASCAR Busch Series champion and Winston Cup rookie Rob Moroso. Moroso said he touched Phil Parsons' left rear with his own right front after Parsons came down on him, and Parsons explained that he was attempting a pass on A. J. Foyt. After 58 laps, Schrader's run to the front was halted by an engine failure. Shortly after halfway, 1972 winner A. J. Foyt quit after experiencing a bizarre problem: In a mid-race interview with CBS's David Hobbs, Foyt claimed he had become intoxicated by fumes produced by his new racing helmet.

Dale Earnhardt dominated the race. He led nearly 3/4 of the laps, relinquishing the lead briefly to Bill Elliott, Mark Martin, Derrike Cope, Davey Allison, Geoff Bodine, Terry Labonte, and Bobby Hillin, Jr.. Daytona 500 rookies Jimmy Spencer and Jack Pennington led yellow flag laps early in the race.

Dale Earnhardt had the race in his grasp with a lead of more than 40 seconds until lap 193 when Geoff Bodine spun in the first turn, causing the third and final caution of the race. Derrike Cope assumed the lead again by staying out, a call made by crew chief Buddy Parrott. The Top 5 on the restart were Cope, Bobby Hillin, Jr., Earnhardt, Terry Labonte, and Bill Elliott. Earnhardt dispatched Cope and Hillin simultaneously with help from Geoff Bodine, who was one lap down. With a few laps remaining, Rick Wilson in the RahMoc car lost an engine, and a piece of metal bell housing from that engine had tumbled to a stop on the backstretch. On the last lap, Earnhardt ran over it and shredded the right rear tire. He held the wheel straight, let off the throttle and let his car climb the banking of turn three. Spanaway, Washington's Derrike Cope drove by Earnhardt to his first ever Winston Cup victory. His previous best career finish was 6th the previous year at Charlotte. Although Earnhardt would lose the race, his crew took the shredded tire and hung it on the wall of the race shop using the loss as motivation to win the 1990 Winston Cup championship. Meanwhile, Cope would become an overnight sensation appearing on The Late Show a week or so later to talk about his big win. Although it is considered as one of the biggest upsets in NASCAR history, the ratings did not quite show it, as it drew a 7.3, the lowest in Daytona 500 history.

Results

Pos	Grid	Car	Driver	Team	Make	Laps	Laps led	Status
1	12	10	Derrike Cope	Whitcomb Racing	Chevrolet	200	5	Running
2	20	1	Terry Labonte	Precision Products Racing	Oldsmobile	200	7	Running
3	4	9	Bill Elliott (W)	Melling Racing	Ford	200	1	Running
4	19	5	Ricky Rudd	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	200	1	Running
5	2	3	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	200	155	Running
6	10	8	Bobby Hillin, Jr.	Stavola Brothers Racing	Buick	200	4	Running
7	38	27	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing	Pontiac	200	0	Running
8	24	30	Michael Waltrip	Bahari Racing	Pontiac	199	0	Flagged
9	3	11	Geoff Bodine (W)	Junior Johnson & Associates	Ford	199	8	Flagged
10	30	15	Morgan Shepherd	Bud Moore Engineering	Ford	199	0	Flagged
11	31	21	Neil Bonnett	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	199	0	Flagged
12	32	66	Dick Trickle	Cale Yarborough Motorsports	Pontiac	199	0	Flagged
13	18	90	Ernie Irvan	Donlavey Racing	Ford	199	0	Flagged
14	9	17	Darrell Waltrip (W)	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	199	0	Flagged
15	6	57	Jimmy Spencer (R)	Osterlund Enterprises	Pontiac	199	4	Flagged
16	14	83	Lake Speed	Speed Racing	Oldsmobile	199	3	Flagged
17	33	26	Brett Bodine	King Racing	Buick	199	0	Flagged
18	5	33	Harry Gant	Leo Jackson Motorsports	Oldsmobile	199	1	Flagged
19	21	94	Sterling Marlin	Hagan Racing	Oldsmobile	198	0	Flagged
20	16	28	Davey Allison	Robert Yates Racing	Ford	198	2	Flagged
21	7	6	Mark Martin	Roush Racing	Ford	198	3	Flagged
22	17	98	Butch Miller (R)	Travis Carter Enterprises	Chevrolet	198	0	Flagged
23	42	71	Dave Marcis	Marcis Auto Racing	Chevrolet	197	0	Flagged
24	22	42	Kyle Petty	SABCO Racing	Pontiac	196	0	Handling
25	23	47	Jack Pennington (R)	Close Racing	Oldsmobile	196	6	Flagged
26	27	32	Joe Ruttman	Wellings Motorsports	Pontiac	196	0	Flagged
27	26	16	Larry Pearson	Pearson Racing	Buick	195	0	Flagged
28	29	02	Rich Bickle (R)	Bickle Racing	Oldsmobile	195	0	Flagged
29	37	52	Jimmy Means	Means Racing	Pontiac	195	0	Flagged
30	28	75	Rick Wilson	RahMoc Enterprises	Oldsmobile	193	0	Engine
31	39	53	Jerry O'Neil (R)	Aroneck Racing	Oldsmobile	193	0	Flagged
32	41	2	Eddie Bierschwale	U.S. Racing	Oldsmobile	191	0	Flagged
33	34	68	Hut Stricklin (R)	TriStar Motorsports	Chevrolet	190	0	Flagged
34	11	43	Richard Petty (W)	Petty Enterprises	Pontiac	183	0	Flagged
35	25	7	Alan Kulwicki	AK Racing	Ford	180	0	Flagged
36	13	14	A. J. Foyt (W)	A. J. Foyt Racing	Oldsmobile	115	0	Quit
37	40	80	Jimmy Horton (R)	S&H Racing	Ford	108	0	Transmission
38	36	20	Rob Moroso (R)	Moroso Racing	Oldsmobile	82	0	Contact T1
39	35	73	Phil Barkdoll	Barkdoll Racing	Oldsmobile	64	0	Engine
40	1	25	Ken Schrader	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	58	0	Engine
41	15	12	Mike Alexander	Bobby Allison Motorsports	Buick	42	0	Contact T1
42	8	4	Phil Parsons	Morgan-McClure Motorsports	Oldsmobile	41	0	Contact T1
Failed to Qualify
43		72	Stan Barrett	Barkdoll Racing	Oldsmobile
44		35	Bill Venturini (R)	Venturini Racing	Chevrolet
45		44	Jim Sauter	Group 44 Racing	Pontiac
46		01	Mickey Gibbs	Gibbs Knuckle Racing	Ford
47		19	Chad Little	Little Racing	Ford
48		48	Trevor Boys	Lusty Racing	Buick
49		85	Bobby Gerhart (R)	Gerhart Racing	Chevrolet
50		37	Dennis Langston (R)	Langston Motorsports	Ford
51		13	Mike Potter (R)	Mansion Motorsports	Chevrolet
52		0	Delma Cowart	H. L. Waters Racing	Ford
53		96	Philip Duffie (R)	Duffie Racing	Buick
54		70	J. D. McDuffie	McDuffie Racing	Pontiac
55		77	Ken Ragan	Ragan Racing	Ford
56		82	Mark Stahl	Stahl Racing	Ford
57		59	Mark Gibson (R)	CoHo Racing	Pontiac
58		34	Charlie Glotzbach	AAG Racing	Pontiac
59		39	Blackie Wangerin	Wangerin Racing	Ford
60		89	Rodney Combs	Mueller Brothers Racing	Pontiac
61		29	Joe Booher	Joe Booher Racing	Pontiac
Source:
Notes: After Chad Little failed to qualify for the Daytona 500, his sponsor Bull's Eye Barbecue Sauce signed an agreement to sponsor Ernie Irvan's entry for the Daytona 500, which was having difficulty with its original sponsor True Cure.

References

• NASCAR, The 1990 Daytona 500
• Daytona 500 history
• Nextel Cup Results msn