The 1990 Daytona 500 was the first stock car race of the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 32nd iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, February 18, 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 200 laps to complete. On the final lap of the race, Whitcomb Racing driver Derrike Cope would manage to take advantage of a misfortunate Dale Earnhardt, when Earnhardt suffered a flat tire on the final turn of the race, allowing Cope to take the lead. The victory was Cope's first career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season. To fill out the top three, Precision Products Racing driver Terry Labonte and Melling Racing driver Bill Elliott would finish second and third, respectively.
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.
#DriverTeamMake0Delma CowartH. L. Waters RacingFord1Terry LabontePrecision Products RacingOldsmobile01Mickey GibbsGibbs RacingFord2Eddie BierschwaleU.S. RacingPontiac02Rich BickleBickle RacingOldsmobile3Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet4Phil ParsonsMorgan–McClure MotorsportsOldsmobile5Ricky RuddHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet6Mark MartinRoush RacingFord7Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord8Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuick9Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord10Derrike CopeWhitcomb RacingChevrolet11Geoff BodineJunior Johnson & AssociatesFord12Mike AlexanderBobby Allison MotorsportsBuick13Mike PotterMansion MotorsportsChevrolet14A. J. FoytA. J. Foyt RacingOldsmobile15Morgan ShepherdBud Moore EngineeringFord16Larry PearsonPearson RacingBuick17Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet19Chad LittleLittle RacingFord20Rob Moroso (R)Moroso RacingOldsmobile21Neil BonnettWood Brothers RacingFord25Ken SchraderHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet26Brett BodineKing RacingBuick27Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiac28Davey AllisonRobert Yates RacingFord29Joe BooherBooher RacingPontiac30Michael WaltripBahari RacingPontiac32Joe RuttmanCalCar MotorsportsPontiac33Harry GantLeo Jackson MotorsportsOldsmobile34Charlie GlotzbachAAG RacingPontiac35Bill VenturiniVenturini MotorsportsChevrolet37Dennis LangstonLangston MotorsportsFord39Blackie WangerinWangerin RacingFord42Kyle PettySABCO RacingPontiac43Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac44Jim SauterGroup 44Pontiac47Jack Pennington (R)Close RacingOldsmobile48Trevor BoysLusty RacingBuick52Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiac53Jerry O'Neil (R)Aroneck RacingOldsmobile57Jimmy SpencerOsterlund RacingPontiac59Mark GibsonCoHo RacingPontiac66Dick TrickleCale Yarborough MotorsportsPontiac68Hut StricklinTriStar MotorsportsChevrolet70J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiac71Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet72Stan BarrettBarkdoll RacingOldsmobile73Phil BarkdollBarkdoll RacingOldsmobile75Rick WilsonRahMoc EnterprisesOldsmobile77Ken RaganRagan RacingFord80Jimmy HortonS&H RacingFord82Mark StahlStahl RacingFord83Lake SpeedSpeed RacingOldsmobile85Bobby GerhartBobby Gerhart RacingChevrolet89Rodney CombsMueller Brothers RacingPontiac90Ernie IrvanDonlavey RacingFord94Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobile96Philip DuffieDuffie RacingBuick98Butch MillerTravis Carter EnterprisesChevrolet
Qualifying Qualifying was set by the 1990 Twin 125 Qualifiers. The top two positions were set by qualifying speeds held for the Twin 125 Qualifiers held on Saturday, February 10, with the top two qualifiers in the session earning the top two positions for the Daytona 500. The rest of the starting was set in the Twin 125 Qualifiers, held on Thursday, February 15 during two races. The top 14 finishers in the first race, excluding the pole position winner, would set the inside row from rows two to 15, and the top 14 finishers in the second race, excluding the outside pole position winner, would set the outside row from rows two to 15. The remaining non-qualifiers would set positions 31-40 based on qualifying speeds from the first qualifying session held on Saturday. If needed, up to two extra provisionals were given to teams high enough in the previous season's owner's standings that did not qualify for the race by either qualifying speed or from the Twin 125 Qualifiers.
Ken Schrader, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 45.798 and an average speed of in Saturday's session.
19 drivers would fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results Pos.#DriverTeamMakeReason125Ken SchraderHendrick MotorsportsChevroletQualified on pole23Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevroletQualified on outside pole311Geoff BodineJunior Johnson & AssociatesFordFirst in Twin 125 #149Bill ElliottMelling RacingFordSecond in Twin 125 #2533Harry GantLeo Jackson MotorsportsOldsmobileSecond in Twin 125 #1657Jimmy SpencerOsterlund RacingPontiacThird in Twin 125 #276Mark MartinRoush RacingFordThird in Twin 125 #184Phil ParsonsMorgan–McClure MotorsportsOldsmobileFourth in Twin 125 #2917Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevroletFourth in Twin 125 #1108Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuickFifth in Twin 125 #21143Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiacFifth in Twin 125 #11210Derrike CopeWhitcomb RacingChevroletSixth in Twin 125 #21314A. J. FoytA. J. Foyt RacingOldsmobileSixth in Twin 125 #11483Lake SpeedSpeed RacingOldsmobileSeventh in Twin 125 #21512Mike AlexanderBobby Allison MotorsportsBuickEighth in Twin 125 #11628Davey AllisonRobert Yates RacingFordEighth in Twin 125 #21798Butch MillerTravis Carter EnterprisesChevroletNinth in Twin 125 #11890Ernie IrvanDonlavey RacingFordNinth in Twin 125 #2195Ricky RuddHendrick MotorsportsChevroletTenth in Twin 125 #1201Terry LabontePrecision Products RacingOldsmobileTenth in Twin 125 #22194Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobile11th in Twin 125 #12242Kyle PettySABCO RacingPontiac11th in Twin 125 #22347Jack Pennington (R)Close RacingOldsmobile12th in Twin 125 #12430Michael WaltripBahari RacingPontiac12th in Twin 125 #2257Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord13th in Twin 125 #12616Larry PearsonPearson RacingBuick13th in Twin 125 #22732Joe RuttmanCalCar MotorsportsPontiac14th in Twin 125 #12875Rick WilsonRahMoc EnterprisesOldsmobile14th in Twin 125 #22902Rich BickleBickle RacingOldsmobile15th in Twin 125 #13015Morgan ShepherdBud Moore EngineeringFord15th in Twin 125 #23121Neil BonnettWood Brothers RacingFordSpeed provisional (194.523)3266Dick TrickleCale Yarborough MotorsportsPontiacSpeed provisional (193.536)3326Brett BodineKing RacingBuickSpeed provisional (193.473)3468Hut StricklinTriStar MotorsportsChevroletSpeed provisional (193.175)3573Phil BarkdollBarkdoll RacingOldsmobileSpeed provisional (192.761)3620Rob Moroso (R)Moroso RacingOldsmobileSpeed provisional (192.394)3752Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiacSpeed provisional (192.217)3827Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiacSpeed provisional (190.267)3953Jerry O'Neil (R)Aroneck RacingOldsmobileSpeed provisional (189.601)4080Jimmy HortonS&H RacingFordSpeed provisional (189.601)412Eddie BierschwaleU.S. RacingOldsmobileOwner's points provisional4271Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevroletOwner's points provisionalFailed to qualify4372Stan BarrettBarkdoll RacingOldsmobile16th in Twin 125 #14435Bill VenturiniVenturini MotorsportsChevrolet17th in Twin 125 #24544Jim SauterGroup 44Pontiac17th in Twin 125 #14601Mickey GibbsGibbs RacingFord19th in Twin 125 #24719Chad LittleLittle RacingFord22nd in Twin 125 #14848Trevor BoysLusty RacingBuick21st in Twin 125 #24985Bobby GerhartBobby Gerhart RacingChevrolet23rd in Twin 125 #15037Dennis LangstonLangston MotorsportsFord23rd in Twin 125 #25113Mike PotterMansion MotorsportsChevrolet24th in Twin 125 #1520Delma CowartH. L. Waters RacingFord24th in Twin 125 #25396Philip DuffieDuffie RacingBuick25th in Twin 125 #15470J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiac25th in Twin 125 #25577Ken RaganRagan RacingFord26th in Twin 125 #15682Mark StahlStahl RacingFord26th in Twin 125 #25759Mark GibsonCoHo RacingPontiac30th in Twin 125 #15834Charlie GlotzbachAAG RacingPontiac27th in Twin 125 #25939Blackie WangerinWangerin RacingFord28th in Twin 125 #26089Rodney CombsMueller Brothers RacingPontiac30th in Twin 125 #26129Joe BooherBooher RacingPontiac31st in Twin 125 #2Official Twin 125 Qualifiers resultsOfficial starting lineup
Race review On the Busch Pole for the third year in a row, Ken Schrader quickly passed several cars at the start after beginning the race in his backup car due to a crash at the end of his Twin 125 qualifier. 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."1990 Daytona 500"
Dale Earnhardt dominated the race. He led 155 of the 200 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 with ten laps to go. On lap 193, Rick Wilson's car was experiencing engine trouble, and was reported to be leaking oil on the track. Geoff Bodine's car spun between turns 1 and 2, possibly due to the oil, which brought out the third and final caution of the day. Most of the leaders - including Earnhardt - ducked into the pits for tires and fuel. Earnhardt took on four fresh tires, as did Terry Labonte, Ricky Rudd and others. Geoff Bodine was able to change his flat-spotted tires and get back in the race, but not before he fell a lap down. Derrike Cope and Bobby Hillin Jr., however, stayed out during the caution, and cycled up to the front of the field. Cope's crew chief Buddy Parrott made the call to not pit and instead stay out on old tires, gambling on track position.