The 1990 Peak Antifreeze 500 was the 23rd stock car race of the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 20th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, September 16, 1990, before an audience of 74,000 in Dover, Delaware at Dover Downs International Speedway, a 1-mile (1.6 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete. At race's end, Melling Racing driver Bill Elliott would manage to dominate a majority of the race, leading 364 laps of the race to take his 33rd career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his only victory of the season. To fill out the top three, Roush Racing driver Mark Martin and Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

Dover Downs International Speedway is an oval race track in Dover, Delaware, United States that has held at least two NASCAR races since it opened in 1969. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosted USAC and the NTT IndyCar Series. The track features one layout, a 1-mile (1.6 km) concrete oval, with 24° banking in the turns and 9° banking on the straights. The speedway is owned and operated by Dover Motorsports.

The track, nicknamed "The Monster Mile", was built in 1969 by Melvin Joseph of Melvin L. Joseph Construction Company, Inc., with an asphalt surface, but was replaced with concrete in 1995. Six years later in 2001, the track's capacity moved to 135,000 seats, making the track have the largest capacity of sports venue in the mid-Atlantic. In 2002, the name changed to Dover International Speedway from Dover Downs International Speedway after Dover Downs Gaming and Entertainment split, making Dover Motorsports. From 2007 to 2009, the speedway worked on an improvement project called "The Monster Makeover", which expanded facilities at the track and beautified the track. After the 2014 season, the track's capacity was reduced to 95,500 seats.

Entry list (R) denotes rookie driver.

#DriverTeamMake1Terry LabontePrecision Products RacingOldsmobile2Jim SauterU.S. RacingPontiac3Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet4Ernie IrvanMorgan–McClure MotorsportsOldsmobile5Ricky RuddHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet6Mark MartinRoush RacingFord7Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord8Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuick9Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord09Jerry HufflinSmith RacingPontiac10Derrike CopeWhitcomb RacingChevrolet11Geoff BodineJunior Johnson & AssociatesFord12Hut StricklinBobby Allison MotorsportsBuick15Morgan ShepherdBud Moore EngineeringFord17Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet18Greg SacksHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet20Rob Moroso (R)Moroso RacingOldsmobile21Dale JarrettWood Brothers RacingFord25Ken SchraderHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet26Brett BodineKing RacingBuick27Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiac28Davey AllisonRobert Yates RacingFord30Michael WaltripBahari RacingPontiac33Harry GantLeo Jackson MotorsportsOldsmobile42Kyle PettySABCO RacingPontiac43Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac48James HyltonHylton MotorsportsBuick51Jeff PurvisPhoenix RacingChevrolet52Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiac54Tommy RigginsHakes–Welliver RacingOldsmobile57Jimmy SpencerOsterlund RacingPontiac66Dick TrickleCale Yarborough MotorsportsPontiac70J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiac71Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet74Mike PotterWawak RacingPontiac75Rick WilsonRahMoc EnterprisesPontiac80Jimmy HortonS&H RacingPontiac83Lake Speed*Speed RacingOldsmobile94Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobile98Butch MillerTravis Carter EnterprisesChevrolet *Driver changed to Tommy Ellis for the race after Speed broken his right shoulder in the race weekend's final practice session.

Qualifying Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, September 14, at 3:00 PM 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 Saturday, September 15, at 11:30 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, 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.

Bill Elliott, driving for Melling Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 24.840 and an average speed of in the first round.

No drivers would fail to qualify.

Full qualifying results Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed19Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord24.840144.928211Geoff BodineBud Moore EngineeringFord24.850144.86933Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet24.892144.62544Ernie IrvanMorgan–McClure MotorsportsChevrolet24.924144.43957Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord24.988144.06966Mark MartinRoush RacingFord24.989144.063728Davey AllisonRobert Yates RacingFord25.004143.977833Harry GantLeo Jackson MotorsportsOldsmobile25.014143.919927Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiac25.042143.7581026Brett BodineKing RacingBuick25.097143.4431121Dale JarrettWood Brothers RacingFord25.108143.3811266Dick TrickleCale Yarborough MotorsportsPontiac25.114143.3461315Morgan ShepherdBud Moore EngineeringFord25.145143.1701471Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet25.244142.6081542Kyle PettySABCO RacingPontiac25.247142.5911643Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac25.294142.3261720Rob Moroso (R)Moroso RacingOldsmobile25.306142.2591894Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobile25.312142.2251930Michael WaltripBahari RacingPontiac25.330142.124205Ricky RuddHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet25.338142.079Failed to lock in Round 1218Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuick25.339142.073221Terry LabontePrecision Products RacingOldsmobile25.345142.0402325Ken SchraderHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet25.357141.9732417Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet25.363141.9392510Derrike CopeWhitcomb RacingChevrolet25.366141.9222612Hut StricklinBobby Allison MotorsportsBuick25.393141.7712798Butch MillerTravis Carter EnterprisesChevrolet25.533140.9942851Jeff PurvisPhoenix RacingChevrolet25.559140.8512918Greg SacksHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet25.560140.8453057Jimmy SpencerOsterlund RacingPontiac25.603140.6093175Rick WilsonRahMoc EnterprisesOldsmobile25.612140.5593283Lake SpeedSpeed RacingOldsmobile25.650140.351332Jim SauterU.S. RacingPontiac25.713140.0073480Jimmy HortonS&H RacingPontiac25.805139.5083552Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiac26.099137.9363674Mike PotterWawak RacingPontiac26.108137.8893754Tommy RigginsHakes–Welliver RacingOldsmobile26.441136.1523848James HyltonHylton MotorsportsBuick26.717134.7463970J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiac26.806134.2984009Jerry HufflinSmith RacingPontiac28.058128.306Official first round qualifying resultsOfficial starting lineup

Race results FinSt#DriverTeamMakeLapsLedStatusPtsWinnings119Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord500364running185$83,100266Mark MartinRoush RacingFord50031running175$35,325333Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet500102running170$29,3754833Harry GantLeo Jackson MotorsportsOldsmobile4991running165$19,42551930Michael WaltripBahari RacingPontiac4990running155$16,82561121Dale JarrettWood Brothers RacingFord4990running150$13,6757927Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiac4990running146$18,17581542Kyle PettySABCO RacingPontiac4990running142$13,6759728Davey AllisonRobert Yates RacingFord4990running138$14,075102325Ken SchraderHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet4980running134$14,875112612Hut StricklinBobby Allison MotorsportsBuick4970running130$8,282121894Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobile4970running127$8,625132510Derrike CopeWhitcomb RacingChevrolet4960running124$9,77514218Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuick4950running121$8,02515221Terry LabontePrecision Products RacingOldsmobile4950running118$8,350161643Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac4940running115$5,600172798Butch MillerTravis Carter EnterprisesChevrolet4930running112$5,350183057Jimmy SpencerOsterlund RacingPontiac4930running109$7,000192417Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet4920running106$12,650201026Brett BodineKing RacingBuick4920running103$7,475212918Greg SacksHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet4910running100$3,550221471Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet4910running97$6,500231266Dick TrickleCale Yarborough MotorsportsPontiac4780running94$7,400243552Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiac4610engine91$4,250251315Morgan ShepherdBud Moore EngineeringFord4410running88$6,2002644Ernie IrvanMorgan–McClure MotorsportsChevrolet4270running85$6,000273175Rick WilsonRahMoc EnterprisesOldsmobile3950engine82$5,925281720Rob Moroso (R)Moroso RacingOldsmobile3940accident79$4,6002957Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord3420engine76$5,775303480Jimmy HortonS&H RacingPontiac3180engine73$3,100313283Tommy EllisSpeed RacingOldsmobile2850engine0$3,05032205Ricky RuddHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet2460overheating67$5,600332851Jeff PurvisPhoenix RacingChevrolet2220accident64$2,95034332Jim SauterU.S. RacingPontiac2030engine61$4,900353848James HyltonHylton MotorsportsBuick2020engine0$2,80036211Geoff BodineBud Moore EngineeringFord1752engine60$12,825374009Jerry HufflinSmith RacingPontiac1300oil leak52$2,750383674Mike PotterWawak RacingPontiac1130handling49$2,700393754Tommy RigginsHakes–Welliver RacingOldsmobile1050oil pan46$2,675403970J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiac180transmission43$2,650Official race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mark Martin 3,519 2 Dale Earnhardt 3,498 (-21) 3 Geoff Bodine 3,180 (-339) 1 4 Bill Elliott 3,106 (–413) 1 5 Rusty Wallace 3,908 (–421) 2 6 Kyle Petty 2,910 (–609) 1 7 Ricky Rudd 2,904 (–615) 1 8 Morgan Shepherd 2,822 (–697) 9 Ken Schrader 2,807 (–712) 10 Ernie Irvan 2,804 (–715)Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References