The 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 42nd season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 19th modern-era Cup Series. It began on Sunday, February 11, and ended on Sunday, November 18. Because of a highly controversial penalty to Mark Martin early in the season, Dale Earnhardt with Richard Childress Racing was crowned the Winston Cup champion for the fourth time, edging out Martin by 26 points.
On the final lap of the first race, Daytona 500 and Race #1 polesitter Ken Schrader was involved in a crash. The car was damaged beyond repair, and the team announced that they would start a back-up car on Sunday for the Daytona 500. However, he would have to move to the rear of the field.
Two cars entered by Hendrick Motorsports (the No. 46 Superflo Chevrolet driven by Greg Sacks and the No. 51 Exxon Chevrolet driven by Rick Mast) were entered into in-race footage for the 1990 film Days of Thunder. Both cars were unscored and withdrew from the race early.
The 32nd annual Daytona 500 was held on February 18 at Daytona International Speedway. Ken Schrader won the pole position. However, Schrader crashed his pole-winning car during the first of Thursday's Twin 125 qualifying races. Schrader moved to a backup car, and by rule, was moved to the rear of the field. Geoff Bodine (winner of the first Twin 125) slid up into the pole spot to start the race. It was announced that Schrader would still be eligible for the Unocal 76 Challenge, which at that point, had rolled over to $212,800.
Derrike Cope started off the 1990 season on a Cinderella note as he won his first ever Winston Cup race, the Daytona 500. It came when Dale Earnhardt, who had led 155 of 200 laps (at one point, leading by 25 seconds over 2nd place), ran over a piece of Rick Wilson's expired engine cutting a right rear tire in turn three on the final lap allowing Cope to shoot past for the win. Cope opted to not take a late pit stop and led briefly before relinquishing the lead in lap 196, not seeing the front again until the last lap.
Two cars entered by Hendrick Motorsports (the No. 18 Hardee's Chevrolet driven by Tommy Ellis and the No. 51 Mello Yello Chevrolet driven by Bobby Hamilton) were entered for in-race footage for the 1990 film Days of Thunder. Both cars were unscored and withdrew from the race early.
This was possibly the coldest race in NASCAR history, with a temperature in the mid-20s and winds gusting to 41 MPH, generating a wind chill of about 5 degrees.
Mark Martin won the race, only to lose 46 championship points after NASCAR officials discovered a somewhat oversized carburetor spacer plate in his car. This ultimately became a key factor in determining the 1990 championship.
It was admitted later that the spacer plate was actually not oversized and not technically illegal. The part was bolted on instead of welded on, thus landing in the "gray area" of NASCAR rules. Dale Earnhardt and his car owner, Richard Childress, who finished second in the race, protested the result because of the findings of the post-race inspection. NASCAR eventually ruled that Martin and car owner Jack Roush would keep the victory, but would lose 46 points as a result of the infraction. This has spawned many years of speculation that NASCAR was biased toward Earnhardt, the eventual seven-time champion, but given that the race was only the second of the season (27 races still remained), nobody could have foreseen that the penalty would decide the points championship at the conclusion of the season.
This was Kyle Petty's first pole on his 277th start in the No. 42 Peak Pontiac owned by Felix Sabates and wrenched by crew chief Gary Nelson, later of NASCAR R&D. Petty dominated the race en route to victory, leading 433 of the 492 laps. Petty claimed the Unocal 76 Challenge, which had rolled over 29 times since it had last been won. Petty won a bonus of $228,400 in addition to the race purse, for an all-time NASCAR record (at the time) $284,450 single-race payday. Car owner Felix Sebates presented Petty with a Rolls-Royce as a gift for winning the elusive bonus.
Dale enjoyed his first win since November 1989, which was also at Atlanta. Although he was suffering from an upset stomach, Earnhardt made up a lost lap to score a narrow victory over Morgan Shepherd. The race was virtually caution free as Earnhardt led 216 of 328 laps in recording a track record race average speed of 156.849 mph.
Dale Earnhardt pulled away on two restarts in the final 18 laps and finished two car lengths in front of Mark Martin to earn his second victory of the 1990 season and second consecutive win at Darlington.
The race came under some controversy, as Ernie Irvan, who was ten laps down, was racing aggressively against then-leader Ken Schrader, lost control and started a huge crash that almost ended the career of Neil Bonnett.
Two cars entered by Hendrick Motorsports (the No. 46 City Chevrolet driven by Greg Sacks and the No. 51 Exxon Chevrolet driven by Hut Stricklin) were originally for the 1990 film Days of Thunder, but were not used for in-race footage. Sacks started in 7th place, but finished in 37th due to a broken crankshaft. Stricklin started in 27th place but finished in 36th after withdrawing from the race.
Michael Waltrip had a terrible crash in the previous day's Busch Series race when he hit the wall head on and his car collapsed into itself, but still managed to race in this race and finish 20th.
Davey Allison elected not to pit on the final caution on lap 391 while the other front runners took on fresh tires and fuel. The gamble paid off with Allison leading the rest of the way, holding off Mark Martin for the victory, by a margin of about 8 inches (one of the closest finishes in NASCAR history). Darrell Waltrip fell from contention with a cut tire with 25 laps left, leaving Allison, Martin, and Ricky Rudd in a bumper-to-bumper battle to the finish.
Sterling Marlin was spun out with half a lap to go by Rudd. This resulted in a physical confrontation inside Rudd's transporter after the race.
Dale Jarrett was inserted into the No. 21 Ford for the Wood Brothers in a relief role (initially). It became permanent after Neil Bonnett developed a case of amnesia, which left him unable to race competitively.
Brett Bodine won his first and only Winston Cup race, and it was the final victory for Buick in NASCAR.
Controversy erupted after Kenny Wallace, who was making his first start in the series, crashed in turn one and brought out a caution on lap 320. During the yellow, the pace car erroneously picked up Dale Earnhardt as the leader, instead of Brett Bodine. This led to much confusion as to who was leading the race (NASCAR did not have electronic timing and scoring until 1993). Bodine had been waved around and was at the tail end of the line of cars, ostensibly the true race leader. Bodine's team was in fact in executing an "undercut" strategy (somewhat unfamiliar at the time), having pitted earlier on the previous stint (in order to gain track position with newer tires). With Bodine momentarily at the tail end of the line, the King Racing crew brought him into the pits for fresh tires. Back out on the track, it took 17 caution laps to sort out the scoring error. Ultimately, the field was waved by until Bodine was the first car behind the pace car as the true leader. With the added advantage of fresh tires, Bodine cruised to victory. After the race, Darrell Waltrip, who finished second, protested the victory; however, it was turned down on the grounds that the decision to put Bodine in the lead was a judgment call that was unappealable under NASCAR rules.
Geoff lost the lead on the first lap but held the lead four times during the race including the final 137 laps for his first win of the season at Martinsville. In an afternoon-long battle of the pit crews with Rusty Wallace, Bodine's crew executed a four-tire change in 19.6 seconds during the 10th and final caution period to beat Wallace back onto the track on lap 364 and easily cruised to the checkered flag.
Dale Earnhardt dominated the field to lead eight times for 107 of 188 laps to earn his third win of the season. Drafting with one other driver after the sixth of seven cautions, the field was left behind when the final caution ended on the 172nd lap and Dale sped to victory.
An ESPN on-board camera caught footage of Dick Trickle smoking in his car during a caution period.
Winston Open
The Winston Open, a shootout race for drivers who are normally not eligible for The Winston, was held May 20 at Charlotte Motor Speedway with the winner transferring to The Winston later in the day. Ernie Irvan was on the pole.
Dale Earnhardt continued his early-season domination of the Winston Cup circuit with a runaway victory in the annual All-Star event. The 1990 edition was the 6th annual running of The Winston & the second victory in the "winners-only" event for Earnhardt and Richard Childress Racing. Earnhardt led all 70 laps after starting from the pole position & won $325,000. Earnhardt became the first 2-time winner of the race.
Rusty Wallace emerged from early season mediocrity to announce his return to dominance with a shootout win over Bill Elliott. Wallace led 306 of the 400 laps for his first win of the season, resuming his final lead on lap 310 when Geoff Bodine made a green-flag pit stop. A two-lap caution beginning on lap 297 set up the duel between Wallace and Elliott, who had regained a lap he lost early in the race.
This was Rusty Wallace's only career win in a crown jewel event (other crown jewel events are the Daytona 500, Winston 500, and Southern 500).
Footage from this race was used in the ESPN Home Video Racing Tough, hosted by Benny Parsons and Brett Bodine.
Dale Earnhardt had blown the engine early in the race. Earnhardt's crew performed the unheard-of feat of actually fixing a blown engine and getting the car back on the track. Unfortunately, he blew his engine again later in the race.
As a result of both his consistency (with 11 Top 10 finishes) and Earnhardt's engine problems, Morgan Shepherd would briefly assume the points lead for the only time in his career.
Rusty Wallace continued his Winston Cup road course mastery in earning his second win of the season at Sears Point. It was his fifth road course win in the last seven, finishing second in the other two. Wallace overtook Ricky Rudd on the 11th turn on lap 60 and led the rest of the way, beating Mark Martin to the caution on lap 73, earning the win under caution in the final lap. Martin overtook the Winston Cup points race at 1800.
This was the final race victory for Blue Max Racing as the team would fold after Wallace left the team at the end of 1990, Roger Penske would acquire their equipment and hire Wallace starting in 1991.
Irv Hoerr was a road course ringer racing for Richard Jackson Motorsports. His car was a Skoal Classic Oldsmobile in colors very similar to Terry Labonte's.[2]
After finishing 29th due to a blown engine, the first time all season finishing outside the Top 10, Morgan Shepherd lost his points lead to Mark Martin.
This race set a record (at the time) for the most cars finishing on the lead lap, with 22 cars completing all 500 miles.
Miller Genuine Draft 400
The Miller Genuine Draft 400 was held at Michigan International Speedway on June 24, 1990. Mark Martin won the pole via points as qualifying was rained out.
During practice Darrell Waltrip suffered serious injuries (multiple leg fractures, a broken arm, 9 broken ribs, a concussion) in a multi-car practice crash that was caused by a broken oil line in A. J. Foyt's No. 14 Oldsmobile car that Dale Earnhardt happened to be driving at the time (Foyt had Indycar commitments, and Earnhardt had promised to shake the car down in final practice). During the wreck, Waltrip's No. 17 Chevrolet spun out and stopped in the middle of the track with its left side facing traffic. Before he could get the car restarted, Waltrip was T-Boned by the No. 71 of Dave Marcis in the driver's door. Waltrip's injuries forced him to miss 6 races. Marcis suffered a broken leg and had to borrow J. D. McDuffie's Pontiac to start the race. McDuffie relieved him after the pace lap.[3]
Jimmy Horton, who had failed to qualify for the race, was tapped to fill in for Waltrip at Daytona and was Waltrip's relief driver 2 weeks later at Pocono.
As a result of Waltrip's crash, NASCAR thoroughly inspected Waltrip's car. Waltrip describes in his book, DW: A Lifetime Going Around in Circles, that the engine had a "floating block in the manifold that sat under the restrictor plate." This was not necessarily illegal, but it was not approved by NASCAR. NASCAR forced Hendrick Motorsports (including the pole sitting No. 18 Chevrolet of Greg Sacks) and other teams to weld the blocks into proper place. This, along with his team's forgetting to put the car's spoiler back into its proper position after qualifying, resulted in the pole sitting car of Sacks essentially being a sitting duck, which more or less caused The Big One at the end of the 1st lap, which involved 24 cars and took 11 cars immediately out of the race.
Dale Earnhardt dominated the race and led 127 laps on his first Winston Cup points race win at Daytona
Rich Vogler was set to make his Winston Cup debut at this event as he had qualified 32nd for this race, but on the night before, he was killed in a sprint car race at Salem Speedway.
Junior Johnson's team gambled on the amount of fuel in Geoff Bodine's tank and elected not to make a pit stop as Bodine nearly coasted to victory over Bill Elliott at Pocono. Bodine led nine times for 119 of the 200 laps. Elliott had pitted on lap 157 and needed no fuel for the finish while other contenders made fuel stops beginning with 11 laps left. After a four-lap caution, the race was restarted on the final lap and Bodine finished with a half-gallon to spare.
Darrell Waltrip actually started the race in the No. 17, and pulled in to put Jimmy Horton in the car at the end of the 1st lap. NASCAR official Dick Beaty stated the day before that he wanted Darrell to stay at the back of the field, do not pass anybody, and pull in at the end of the 1st lap for the driver change. Waltrip passed 3 or 4 cars at the start, then caught a caution that allowed him to do the driver change under yellow. Beaty then penalized the No. 17 1 lap for disobeying the earlier command (as stated in Waltrip's book, DW: A Lifetime Going Around in Circles).
Dale Earnhardt made it three of four major superspeedway titles so far in the 1990 season by winning the pole, leading a record-breaking 134 laps and winning the race. Earnhardt got the win by dropping behind another driver to draft and conserve fuel on lap 151, then passing him on turn four with 20 laps left, and leading the rest of the way to the checkered flag. As of 2022, this marks the only time in NASCAR history that a driver won 3 straight restrictor plate races.
Amateur driver Stanley Smith was involved in a pit road mishap when he lost control of his car and hit several crew members for Tracy Leslie's team. No one was seriously injured.
As the leaders came off turn 4 on the last lap, the caution was waved along with the checkered flag. No reason for the caution was ever given by the CBS announcers after the race, although photographs have shown that the No. 57 of Jimmy Spencer actually rolled over on the last lap of the race and managed to still finish 24th, 2 laps down.
After finishing the race in 11th, the No. 7 of Alan Kulwicki actually caught fire, forcing Alan to bail out just past the start-finish line.
Originally, Rick Hendrick was scheduled to race the event - however, sports car racer Sarel van der Merwe substituted for Darrell Waltrip in the No. 17. He finished in 24th place after crashing late in the race. At the time, van der Merwe was racing for Rick Hendrick's Camel GT team in IMSA.
Mark Martin started on the outside of the front row, hovered in the top five the first half of the race, then demonstrated his dominance by leading 70 of the last 100 laps to win at Michigan. Martin and Rusty Wallace linked up for a side-by-side duel on lap 124 with Martin emerging ahead never to be challenged again. He regained the lead on lap 162 after a flurry of green-flag pit stops and led the rest of the 200 laps.
Ernie Irvan and the Morgan-McClure Motorsports team captured their first ever Winston Cup victory at Bristol. The last 50 laps of the 500-lap race was a shootout between Irvan and Rusty Wallace. Irvan never relinquished the lead to Wallace, which he gained on lap 411. Irvan finished one car length ahead of Wallace.
The traditional Labor Day event saw Dale Earnhardt capture the Richard Childress Racing's fourth pole of the season before winning the race. Even with an ill-handling racecar, Earnhardt recovered, made up a lost lap and then having to battle a vibrating tire to outrun Ernie Irvan to the checkered flag. With the $200,000 payday ($100,000 of this was a bonus from Winston for winning 2 out of 4 crown jewel races in a season), Dale became the first race car driver in history to pass the $11,000,000 mark in career winnings.
This was the final time Dale Earnhardt won from the pole.
During the race, Morgan Shepherd and Ken Schrader made contact, sending Schrader into the wall.[citation needed] An angry Schrader returned to the race and rammed Shepherd into the wall, knocking both drivers out of the race.
This would be the final day race at Richmond that would be run during the fall.
Dale Earnhardt won his fifth of the last nine races, gambling on his fuel mileage to lead the last 25 laps of the race. As the car coasted toward victory lane, it ran out of gas. "We figured our only chance was to win it on gas mileage and we did," said Dale. "I nursed it as much as I could for the last twenty laps and it was sputtering when I took the checkered flag. Luckily we made the right decision."
This was Darrell Waltrip's first full race back from his injuries suffered at Daytona in July.
Dale Earnhardt dominated, leading 291 of 400 laps, but Mark Martin snatched the lead on lap 363, and held onto it until the finish.
With the win, Martin retained his 16-point advantage in the Winston Cup Championship race. Two pit stops to remove spring rubber left him in 12th place on lap 196, but by lap 288 he was in second place. On lap 263, Martin was the only driver to pass Earnhardt under green.
The race was marked by tragedy, as rookie driver Rob Moroso, who finished in 21st place in this race, was killed in a highway accident hours after this race had concluded. Police reports said that Moroso was above the legal alcohol limit when he crashed.
It seemed that Bill Elliott had the dominant car but blew the engine on lap 331 of 334 after leading 243 laps regulating him to a 15th-place finish.
During a caution, Dale Earnhardt, who was not running well, lost all four tires at the end of pit road after a pit stop (communication mix-up, lug nuts). His crew ran down pit lane with jacks and got him back on all fours but he lost a few laps. Mark Martin had a chance to capitalize on the misfortune but ended up losing a cylinder and finished 14th, 3 laps down.
Alan Kulwicki led six times for 155 of 492 laps, including the last 55 after taking the lead from Bill Elliott, to post his first win since November 1988 at Phoenix International Raceway. The race ended under caution.
With both finishing three laps back, the Richard Childress Racing team gained five points on Mark Martin in the Winston Cup Championship race, though Martin still held a 45-point lead with two races remaining.
During the last caution, Ken Schrader pitted for 4 tires on the final lap, dropping him from 4th to 5th place.
Dale Earnhardt won his first (and only) race at Phoenix in a dominant way leading the most laps (262 laps of 312). He also took the points lead by 6 points over Mark Martin heading into the season finale at Atlanta.
This was the first season since 1987 where Dale Earnhardt won the most races in a season. 1990 was also the final season in his career that he won the most races in a season.
Tragedy struck during the race when Ricky Rudd driving the Levi Garrett No. 5 locked his brakes up, lost control of the car on pit road, and struck and killed Mike Ritch, a pit crew member on Bill Elliott's team.
The fatal accident on pit road was the trigger for a series of new pit road procedures in the Winston Cup Series. At this time, pit road had no speed limit, which meant that cars would blast down pit road in order to lose a least amount of time. Drivers were essentially waved into their pit stall by a sign board man who would stand out in pit lane holding up their team's pit board. (Examples of this can be seen in the film Days of Thunder.) In addition, pit road was not closed when the caution was first displayed, which would result in cars rushing into the pits before the pace car picked up the field. This was first curtailed by the banning of tire changes under caution, an extremely unpopular move (all other services were still allowed though). The pit road closing procedures (that continue today in a modified form) also began with this pit procedure. New rules for pit crews that required crews to stay on the other side of the pit wall from the cars until their car was one stall away were instituted.
Pit board men were no longer allowed to stand out in the middle of the pit lane. Lollipops, similar to what is used in most motorsport, were dangled out in the pit stall from the other side of the pit wall. In addition, each car was issued either a blue (with a white number 1 on it) or orange sticker (with a white number 2 on it). The odd numbered cars got the blue stickers while the even numbered cars got the orange stickers. Once the green flag came back out, the blue flag was put out at the end of the second lap after the restart, which allowed only the odd-numbered cars to pit for tires. At the end of the third lap after the restart, an orange flag was displayed, allowing only even-numbered cars to pit for tires. This procedure only lasted a few races before it was dumped in favor of pit road speed limits.
This was the final time Darrell Waltrip drove for Hendrick Motorsports, as he left following this race to form his own team with sponsorship from Western Auto for 1991. Also, Darrell would not drive for another car owner until 1998 when he filled in for an injured Steve Park at Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
The 1990 season was a slim season for Rookie of the Year contenders. 1989 Busch Series champion Rob Moroso had a top-ten finish and qualified for every race, but he was killed in a car crash before the end of the year and was awarded the top rookie award posthumously. His top runner-up was Jack Pennington, a late-model dirt racing champion, who had 14 starts and no top-tens in an unsponsored car. The only other declarees were Jerry O'Neil and Jeff Purvis, who did not run enough races to be completely eligible for the honor.
