1990 Heinz Southern 500
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 21 of 29 in the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1990 Heinz Southern 500 program cover, featuring Dale Earnhardt. | |||
| Date | September 2, 1990 | ||
| Official name | 41st Annual Heinz Southern 500 | ||
| Location | Darlington Raceway, Darlington, South Carolina | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.366 mi (2.221 km) | ||
| Distance | 367 laps, 501.322 mi (806.799 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 367 laps, 501.322 mi (806.799 km) | ||
| Average speed | 123.141 miles per hour (198.176 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Richard Childress Racing | ||
| Time | 31.036 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Laps | 99 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ESPN | ||
| Announcers | Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett, Benny Parsons | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
The 1990 Heinz Southern 500 was the 21st stock car race of the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 41st iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, September 2, 1990, in Darlington, South Carolina, at Darlington Raceway, a 1.366 miles (2.198 km) permanent egg-shaped oval racetrack. The race took the scheduled 367 laps to complete. At race's end, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would manage to dominate the late stages of the race, leading the final 54 laps of the race to take his 46th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his seventh victory of the season.[1][2][3][4] To fill out the top three, Morgan–McClure Motorsports driver Ernie Irvan and owner-driver Alan Kulwicki would finish second and third, respectively.
Background
[edit]
Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that is effective at both ends.
Entry list
[edit]- (R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
[edit]Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, August 30, 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 Friday, August 31, at 2:00 PM 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[5] and depending on who needed it, a select amount of positions were given to cars who had not otherwise qualified on time but were high enough in owner's points; up to two provisionals were given.
Dale Earnhardt, driving for Richard Childress Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 31.036 and an average speed of 158.448 miles per hour (254.997 km/h) in the first round.[6][7]
J. D. McDuffie was the only driver to fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results
[edit]Race results
[edit]| Fin | St | # | Driver | Team | Make | Laps | Led | Status | Pts | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 367 | 99 | running | 185 | $210,350 |
| 2 | 11 | 4 | Ernie Irvan | Morgan–McClure Motorsports | Chevrolet | 367 | 70 | running | 175 | $35,900 |
| 3 | 8 | 7 | Alan Kulwicki | AK Racing | Ford | 367 | 0 | running | 165 | $23,340 |
| 4 | 2 | 9 | Bill Elliott | Melling Racing | Ford | 367 | 98 | running | 165 | $24,380 |
| 5 | 7 | 33 | Harry Gant | Leo Jackson Motorsports | Oldsmobile | 367 | 0 | running | 155 | $21,340 |
| 6 | 10 | 6 | Mark Martin | Roush Racing | Ford | 367 | 0 | running | 150 | $16,825 |
| 7 | 5 | 5 | Ricky Rudd | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 367 | 6 | running | 151 | $12,755 |
| 8 | 3 | 11 | Geoff Bodine | Junior Johnson & Associates | Ford | 367 | 89 | running | 147 | $17,545 |
| 9 | 9 | 10 | Derrike Cope | Whitcomb Racing | Chevrolet | 366 | 0 | running | 138 | $12,105 |
| 10 | 6 | 26 | Brett Bodine | King Racing | Buick | 366 | 0 | running | 134 | $13,455 |
| 11 | 15 | 66 | Dick Trickle | Cale Yarborough Motorsports | Pontiac | 365 | 0 | running | 130 | $11,360 |
| 12 | 16 | 75 | Rick Wilson | RahMoc Enterprises | Oldsmobile | 365 | 0 | running | 127 | $10,025 |
| 13 | 22 | 20 | Rob Moroso (R) | Moroso Racing | Oldsmobile | 365 | 0 | running | 124 | $9,085 |
| 14 | 24 | 1 | Terry Labonte | Precision Products Racing | Oldsmobile | 365 | 0 | running | 121 | $9,475 |
| 15 | 12 | 28 | Davey Allison | Robert Yates Racing | Ford | 364 | 0 | running | 118 | $14,290 |
| 16 | 17 | 71 | Dave Marcis | Marcis Auto Racing | Chevrolet | 364 | 3 | running | 120 | $8,875 |
| 17 | 29 | 41 | Larry Pearson | Larry Hedrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 363 | 0 | running | 112 | $5,415 |
| 18 | 23 | 94 | Sterling Marlin | Hagan Racing | Oldsmobile | 362 | 0 | transmission | 109 | $8,370 |
| 19 | 28 | 29 | Phil Parsons | Diamond Ridge Motorsports | Pontiac | 362 | 0 | running | 106 | $5,120 |
| 20 | 34 | 12 | Hut Stricklin | Bobby Allison Motorsports | Buick | 361 | 0 | running | 103 | $7,792 |
| 21 | 14 | 15 | Morgan Shepherd | Bud Moore Engineering | Ford | 358 | 0 | running | 100 | $7,645 |
| 22 | 32 | 47 | Jack Pennington (R) | Close Racing | Oldsmobile | 357 | 0 | running | 97 | $4,840 |
| 23 | 36 | 57 | Jimmy Spencer | Osterlund Racing | Pontiac | 355 | 0 | running | 94 | $7,345 |
| 24 | 19 | 22 | Rick Mast | U.S. Racing | Pontiac | 354 | 0 | running | 91 | $4,375 |
| 25 | 13 | 42 | Kyle Petty | SABCO Racing | Pontiac | 332 | 0 | running | 88 | $12,630 |
| 26 | 30 | 30 | Michael Waltrip | Bahari Racing | Pontiac | 272 | 0 | accident | 85 | $6,890 |
| 27 | 39 | 2 | Charlie Glotzbach | U.S. Racing | Pontiac | 255 | 0 | engine | 82 | $6,050 |
| 28 | 18 | 21 | Dale Jarrett | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 241 | 1 | accident | 84 | $6,655 |
| 29 | 25 | 98 | Butch Miller | Travis Carter Enterprises | Chevrolet | 239 | 1 | accident | 81 | $4,540 |
| 30 | 26 | 17 | Greg Sacks | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 227 | 0 | accident | 73 | $12,810 |
| 31 | 20 | 8 | Bobby Hillin Jr. | Stavola Brothers Racing | Buick | 227 | 0 | accident | 70 | $6,315 |
| 32 | 27 | 83 | Lake Speed | Speed Racing | Oldsmobile | 175 | 0 | engine | 67 | $3,605 |
| 33 | 40 | 82 | Mark Stahl | Stahl Racing | Ford | 112 | 0 | handling | 64 | $3,550 |
| 34 | 33 | 43 | Richard Petty | Petty Enterprises | Pontiac | 93 | 0 | engine | 61 | $4,120 |
| 35 | 35 | 19 | Chad Little | Little Racing | Ford | 91 | 0 | accident | 58 | $3,420 |
| 36 | 31 | 52 | Jimmy Means | Jimmy Means Racing | Pontiac | 91 | 0 | accident | 55 | $3,975 |
| 37 | 38 | 96 | Philip Duffie | Duffie Racing | Buick | 52 | 0 | handling | 52 | $3,320 |
| 38 | 37 | 36 | H. B. Bailey | Bailey Racing | Pontiac | 39 | 0 | accident | 49 | $3,265 |
| 39 | 21 | 25 | Ken Schrader | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 31 | 0 | accident | 46 | $10,710 |
| 40 | 4 | 27 | Rusty Wallace | Blue Max Racing | Pontiac | 14 | 0 | engine | 43 | $14,400 |
| Failed to qualify | ||||||||||
| 41 | 70 | J. D. McDuffie | McDuffie Racing | Pontiac | ||||||
| Official race results | ||||||||||
Standings after the race
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References
[edit]- ^ Higgins, Tom (September 3, 1990). "Tough? Not For Dale (Part 1)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 23. Retrieved April 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (September 3, 1990). "Tough? Not For Dale (Part 2)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 25. Retrieved April 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Parrish, Will (September 3, 1990). "Earnhardt tames 'Lady in black' (Part 1)". The Herald. p. 11. Retrieved April 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Parrish, Will (September 3, 1990). "Earnhardt tames 'Lady in black' (Part 2)". The Herald. p. 14. Retrieved April 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "NASCAR today". The Charlotte Observer. August 29, 1990. p. 35. Retrieved April 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (August 31, 1990). "Earnhardt Continues 'Unbelievable' Pole Roll (Part 1)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 57. Retrieved April 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (August 31, 1990). "Earnhardt Continues 'Unbelievable' Pole Roll (Part 2)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 62. Retrieved April 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
