1990 Daytona 500

The 1990 Daytona 500 was run on February 18, 1990. This race was best known as the race in which a blown tire with about one mile left robbed Dale Earnhardt of his first Daytona 500 victory.

Overview

Ken Schrader won the pole with a speed of 196.515 mph. However, on race day, although there were 27 lead changes, it was Earnhardt who took command, leading 155 of 200 laps including 26 of the first 27 laps and 84 of the first 100 laps. Meanwhile, Derrike Cope (an unknown driver at the time) was surprisingly in 4th place at the halfway point.

Earnhardt was running away with the race until lap 193 when Geoff Bodine spun in the first turn, causing the third and final caution of the race. Everyone pitted except Cope who stayed out on the track, and for 2 laps, he lead the race. Cope led briefly before relinquishing the lead in lap 196, not seeing the front again until the last lap. On the lap 195 restart, Earnhardt retook the lead and kept it there until the fateful final lap. On the backstretch, a piece of metal bell housing had tumbled to a stop on the asphalt, which had come off Rick Wilson's car as his engine expired. Earnhardt was on the backstretch, drove over the bell housing which hit the bottom of the car which caused the right rear tire to blow up. Earnhardt held the wheel straight, let off the throttle and let his car climb the banking of turn three. Some observers have speculated that this was the point at which Earnhardt knew it was, for him, over. Cope followed by Terry Labonte drove by Earnhardt to seal his first ever Winston (now Sprint) Cup victory. It was the first of 2 victories for Cope in the 1990 season. Earnhardt ended up finishing 5th in the race.

Results

# 10-Derrike Cope
# 1-Terry Labonte
# 9-Bill Elliott
# 5-Ricky Rudd
# 3-Dale Earnhardt
# 8-Bobby Hillin, Jr.
# 27-Rusty Wallace
# 30-Michael Waltrip
# 11-Geoff Bodine
# 15-Morgan Shepherd
# 21-Neil Bonnett
# 66-Dick Trickle
# 90-Ernie Irvan
# 17-Darrell Waltrip
# 57-Jimmy Spencer
# 83-Lake Speed
# 26-Brett Bodine
# 33-Harry Gant
# 94-Sterling Marlin
# 28-Davey Allison
# 6-Mark Martin
# 98-Butch Miller
# 71-Dave Marcis
# 42-Kyle Petty
# 47-Jack Pennington
# 32-Joe Ruttman
# 16-Larry Pearson
# 02-Rich Bickle
# 52-Jimmy Means
# 75-Rick Wilson
# 53-Jerry O'Neil
# 2-Eddie Bierschwale
# 68-Hut Stricklin
# 43-Richard Petty
# 7-Alan Kulwicki
# 14-A.J. Foyt
# 80-Jimmy Horton
# 20-Rob Moroso
# 73-Phil Barkdoll
# 25-Ken Schrader
# 12-Mike Alexander
# 4-Phil Parsons

See also

*1990 in NASCAR

References

* [http://www.nascar.com/2002/kyn/history/races/02/02/90daytona500/index.html NASCAR, The 1990 Daytona 500]
* [http://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com/track/Daytona500History.jsp Daytona 500 history]
* [http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/cup/results?season=1990&gameId=19900218001 Nextel Cup Results msn]