1990 TranSouth 500

Race details
Race 5 of 29 in the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1990 TranSouth 500 program cover, featuring Harry Gant.
Date	April 1, 1990
Official name	34th Annual TranSouth 500
Location	Darlington, South Carolina, Darlington Raceway
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.366 mi (2.198 km)
Distance	367 laps, 501.322 mi (806.799 km)
Scheduled Distance	367 laps, 501.322 mi (806.799 km)
Average speed	124.073 miles per hour (199.676 km/h)
Attendance	55,000
Pole position
Driver	Geoff Bodine	Junior Johnson & Associates
Time	30.170
Most laps led
Driver	Geoff Bodine	Junior Johnson & Associates
Laps	154
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 TranSouth 500 was the fifth stock car race of the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 34th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, April 1, 1990, before an audience of 55,000 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. On the final restart with three laps to go in the race, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would manage to fend off the field to take his 41st career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his second victory of the season.^[1][2][3][4] To fill out the top three, Roush Racing driver Mark Martin and Robert Yates Racing driver Davey Allison would finish second and third, respectively.

On lap 212 of the race, a 13-car pileup would occur on the track's front-stretch. One of the 13 drivers involved, Neil Bonnett, would suffer brain injuries that would lead towards amnesia and dizziness that would ultimately lead to the effective end of his racing career, only racing in two more races in 1993 before dying in an practice session accident in 1994.^[5]

Background

The layout of Darlington Raceway, the venue where the race was held.

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.

Qualifying

Qualifying was originally scheduled to be split into two rounds. The first round was scheduled to be held on Thursday, March 29, at 3:00 PM EST. However, due to rain, the first round was cancelled, and qualifying was condensed into one round,^[6][7] which was held on Friday, March 30, at 2:00 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 1–40 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.

Geoff Bodine, driving for Junior Johnson & Associates, would win the pole, setting a time of 30.170 and an average speed of 162.996 miles per hour (262.317 km/h).^[9][10]

Three drivers would fail to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Dale Earnhardt 839 2 Morgan Shepherd 761 (-78) 2 3 Geoff Bodine 708 (-131) 4 Kyle Petty 685 (–154) 2 5 Bill Elliott 677 (–162) 3 6 Rusty Wallace 671 (–168) 6 7 Mark Martin 654 (–185) 1 8 Ken Schrader 646 (–193) 5 9 Brett Bodine 619 (–220) 2 10 Darrell Waltrip 618 (–221) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References