1990 Pepsi 400
The 1990 Pepsi 400 was the 15th stock car race of the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 32nd iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, July 7, 1990, in Daytona Beach, Florida at Daytona International Speedway, a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) permanent triangular-shaped superspeedway. The race took the scheduled 160 laps to complete. In a three-lap shootout to the finish, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would manage to defend the field to complete a dominant performance throughout the race, leading 127 laps. The victory was Earnhardt's 44th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his fifth victory of the season.[1][2][3][4] To fill out the top three, owner-driver Alan Kulwicki and Hendrick Motorsports driver Ken Schrader would finish second and third, respectively.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 15 of 29 in the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1990 Pepsi 400 program cover. | |||
| Date | July 7, 1990 | ||
| Official name | 32nd Annual Pepsi 400 | ||
| Location | Daytona Beach, Florida, Daytona International Speedway | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.0 km) | ||
| Distance | 160 laps, 400 mi (643.737 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 160 laps, 400 mi (643.737 km) | ||
| Average speed | 160.894 miles per hour (258.934 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Hendrick Motorsports | ||
| Time | 46.028 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Laps | 127 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ESPN | ||
| Announcers | Bob Jenkins, Benny Parsons, Ned Jarrett | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
Heading into lap two of the race, a 23-car crash would occur on the track's front-stretch after Derrike Cope's car would accidentally scuff into the right side of Greg Sacks's car, sending Sacks loose into Richard Petty's car, sending Petty's car directly crashing in front of the oncoming field, triggering a major pileup, commonly referred to in NASCAR as a big one.[5]
Background
Daytona International Speedway is one of three superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the other two being Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. The track's turns are banked at 31 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees.
Entry list
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, July 5, at 10:00 AM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 20 drivers in the round would be guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Friday, July 6, at 11:00 AM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-40 would be decided on time,[8] and depending on who needed it, a select amount of positions were given to cars who had not otherwise qualified but were high enough in owner's points; up to two provisionals were given.
Greg Sacks, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 46.028 and an average speed of 195.533 miles per hour (314.680 km/h) in the first round.[9][10]
Three drivers would fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results
Race results
| Fin | St | # | Driver | Team | Make | Laps | Led | Status | Pts | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 160 | 127 | running | 185 | $72,850 |
| 2 | 12 | 7 | Alan Kulwicki | AK Racing | Ford | 160 | 1 | running | 175 | $38,700 |
| 3 | 6 | 25 | Ken Schrader | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 160 | 2 | running | 170 | $31,400 |
| 4 | 8 | 1 | Terry Labonte | Precision Products Racing | Oldsmobile | 160 | 0 | running | 160 | $23,450 |
| 5 | 13 | 94 | Sterling Marlin | Hagan Racing | Oldsmobile | 160 | 15 | running | 160 | $21,250 |
| 6 | 28 | 8 | Bobby Hillin Jr. | Stavola Brothers Racing | Buick | 160 | 7 | running | 155 | $16,832 |
| 7 | 16 | 33 | Harry Gant | Leo Jackson Motorsports | Oldsmobile | 160 | 1 | running | 151 | $17,400 |
| 8 | 24 | 21 | Dale Jarrett | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 160 | 0 | running | 142 | $13,500 |
| 9 | 11 | 20 | Rob Moroso (R) | Moroso Racing | Oldsmobile | 160 | 4 | running | 143 | $11,000 |
| 10 | 10 | 42 | Kyle Petty | SABCO Racing | Pontiac | 159 | 0 | running | 134 | $16,875 |
| 11 | 2 | 6 | Mark Martin | Roush Racing | Ford | 158 | 0 | running | 130 | $14,490 |
| 12 | 22 | 52 | Jimmy Means | Jimmy Means Racing | Pontiac | 158 | 0 | running | 127 | $7,300 |
| 13 | 9 | 5 | Ricky Rudd | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 158 | 0 | running | 124 | $10,135 |
| 14 | 25 | 27 | Rusty Wallace | Blue Max Racing | Pontiac | 158 | 0 | running | 121 | $17,020 |
| 15 | 33 | 57 | Jimmy Spencer | Osterlund Racing | Pontiac | 157 | 3 | running | 123 | $10,030 |
| 16 | 27 | 30 | Michael Waltrip | Bahari Racing | Pontiac | 155 | 0 | running | 115 | $8,950 |
| 17 | 5 | 17 | Jimmy Horton | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 155 | 0 | running | 112 | $14,495 |
| 18 | 36 | 47 | Jack Pennington (R) | Close Racing | Oldsmobile | 152 | 0 | running | 109 | $5,495 |
| 19 | 30 | 66 | Dick Trickle | Cale Yarborough Motorsports | Pontiac | 151 | 0 | running | 106 | $9,125 |
| 20 | 34 | 71 | Dave Marcis | Marcis Auto Racing | Pontiac | 140 | 0 | engine | 103 | $8,570 |
| 21 | 40 | 96 | Philip Duffie | Duffie Racing | Buick | 139 | 0 | running | 100 | $4,710 |
| 22 | 20 | 26 | Brett Bodine | King Racing | Buick | 138 | 0 | running | 97 | $7,515 |
| 23 | 37 | 98 | Butch Miller | Travis Carter Enterprises | Chevrolet | 134 | 0 | running | 94 | $5,270 |
| 24 | 17 | 28 | Davey Allison | Robert Yates Racing | Ford | 133 | 0 | running | 91 | $12,325 |
| 25 | 15 | 11 | Geoff Bodine | Junior Johnson & Associates | Ford | 119 | 0 | running | 88 | $12,730 |
| 26 | 21 | 12 | Hut Stricklin | Bobby Allison Motorsports | Buick | 118 | 0 | running | 85 | $4,860 |
| 27 | 32 | 19 | Chad Little | Little Racing | Ford | 114 | 0 | running | 82 | $4,140 |
| 28 | 18 | 10 | Derrike Cope | Whitcomb Racing | Chevrolet | 100 | 0 | running | 79 | $8,920 |
| 29 | 4 | 9 | Bill Elliott | Melling Racing | Ford | 95 | 0 | running | 76 | $12,525 |
| 30 | 35 | 90 | Buddy Baker | Donlavey Racing | Ford | 71 | 0 | accident | 73 | $3,730 |
| 31 | 26 | 73 | Phil Barkdoll | Barkdoll Racing | Oldsmobile | 17 | 0 | accident | 70 | $3,675 |
| 32 | 29 | 01 | Mickey Gibbs | Gibbs Racing | Ford | 13 | 0 | accident | 67 | $3,645 |
| 33 | 14 | 4 | Ernie Irvan | Morgan–McClure Motorsports | Oldsmobile | 6 | 0 | accident | 64 | $6,310 |
| 34 | 31 | 15 | Morgan Shepherd | Bud Moore Engineering | Ford | 2 | 0 | accident | 61 | $6,260 |
| 35 | 38 | 2 | Charlie Glotzbach | U.S. Racing | Pontiac | 2 | 0 | accident | 58 | $6,205 |
| 36 | 7 | 43 | Richard Petty | Petty Enterprises | Pontiac | 1 | 0 | accident | 55 | $4,900 |
| 37 | 1 | 18 | Greg Sacks | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 1 | 0 | accident | 52 | $6,995 |
| 38 | 19 | 14 | A. J. Foyt | A. J. Foyt Racing | Oldsmobile | 1 | 0 | accident | 49 | $3,480 |
| 39 | 23 | 75 | Rick Wilson | RahMoc Enterprises | Oldsmobile | 1 | 0 | accident | 46 | $6,060 |
| 40 | 39 | 06 | Terry Byers | Byers Racing | Pontiac | 1 | 0 | accident | 43 | $3,505 |
| Failed to qualify | ||||||||||
| 41 | 82 | Mark Stahl | Stahl Racing | Ford | ||||||
| 42 | 70 | J. D. McDuffie | McDuffie Racing | Pontiac | ||||||
| 43 | 72 | Tracy Leslie | Parker Racing | Oldsmobile | ||||||
| Official race results | ||||||||||
Standings after the race
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notes
- Driver changed to Jimmy Horton for the race due to Waltrip suffering injuries in a practice session on Friday.[6][7]
References
- Higgins, Tom (July 8, 1990). "Earnhardt Stays Ahead Of Trouble, Field (Part 1)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 89. Retrieved March 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- Higgins, Tom (July 8, 1990). "Earnhardt Stays Ahead Of Trouble, Field (Part 2)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 98. Retrieved March 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- Coble, Don (July 8, 1990). "Earnhardt rules at Daytona (Part 1)". Florida Today. p. 29. Retrieved March 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- Coble, Don (July 8, 1990). "Earnhardt rules at Daytona (Part 2)". Florida Today. p. 30. Retrieved March 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- Higgins, Tom (July 8, 1990). "Crash Sets Off Verbal 'Bombs'". The Charlotte Observer. p. 98. Retrieved March 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- Higgins, Tom (July 7, 1990). "Wreck Traps Waltrip (Part 1)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 63. Retrieved March 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- Higgins, Tom (July 7, 1990). "Wreck Traps Waltrip (Part 2)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 72. Retrieved March 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- "NASCAR today". The Charlotte Observer. July 4, 1991. p. 25. Retrieved March 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- Higgins, Tom (July 6, 1990). "Sacks Cruises To First Pole – And It's Daytona (Part 1)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 15. Retrieved March 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- Higgins, Tom (July 6, 1990). "Sacks Cruises To First Pole – And It's Daytona (Part 2)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 17. Retrieved March 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.