The 1990 Mello Yello 500 was the 26th stock car race of the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 31st iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, October 7, 1990, before an audience of 158,400 in Concord, North Carolina, at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) permanent quad-oval. The race took the scheduled 334 laps to complete. Taking advantage of a misfortunate Bill Elliott, Robert Yates Racing driver Davey Allison would manage to dominate the final 76 laps of the race to take his eighth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his second and final victory of the season.[1][2][3][4] To fill out the top three, Bud Moore Engineering driver Morgan Shepherd and Bahari Racing driver Michael Waltrip would finish second and third, respectively.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 26 of 29 in the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1990 Mello Yello 500 program cover, featuring Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt. Artwork by NASCAR artist Sam Bass. | |||
| Date | October 7, 1990 | ||
| Official name | 31st Annual Mello Yello 500 | ||
| Location | Concord, North Carolina, Charlotte Motor Speedway | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.5 mi (2.41 km) | ||
| Distance | 334 laps, 501 mi (806.281 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 334 laps, 501 mi (806.281 km) | ||
| Average speed | 137.428 miles per hour (221.169 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 158,400 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | King Racing | ||
| Time | 30.966 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Bill Elliott | Melling Racing | |
| Laps | 243 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 28 | Davey Allison | Robert Yates Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | TBS | ||
| Announcers | Ken Squier, Johnny Hayes, Chris Economaki | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Performance Racing Network | ||
With a poor finish from championship contender Dale Earnhardt, Mark Martin managed to increase his driver championship points lead by 33 points, to a total of 49 points.[5]
Background
edit
Charlotte Motor Speedway is a motorsports complex located in Concord, North Carolina, United States 13 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The complex features a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend and the NEXTEL All-Star Challenge, as well as the UAW-GM Quality 500. The speedway was built in 1959 by Bruton Smith and is considered the home track for NASCAR with many race teams located in the Charlotte area. The track is owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI) with Marcus G. Smith (son of Bruton Smith) as track president.
Entry list
edit- (R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
editQualifying was originally scheduled to be split into two rounds. The first round was held on Wednesday, October 3, at 2:00 PM EST. Originally, the first 20 positions were going to be determined by first round qualifying, with positions 21-40 meant to be determined the following day on Thursday, October 4.[6] However, due to rain, the second round was cancelled. As a result, the rest of the starting lineup was set using the results from the first round. 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 were given.[7]
Brett Bodine, driving for King Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 30.966 and an average speed of 174.385 miles per hour (280.645 km/h) in the first round.[8][9]
Nine drivers would fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results
editRace results
editStandings after the race
edit
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References
edit- ^ Higgins, Tom (October 8, 1990). "Allison Steals The Show (Part 1)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 23. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (October 8, 1990). "Allison Steals The Show (Part 2)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 26. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ King, Randy (October 8, 1990). "Allison breaks through (Part 1)". The Roanoke Times. p. 9. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ King, Randy (October 8, 1990). "Allison breaks through (Part 2)". The Roanoke Times. p. 13. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ King, Randy (October 8, 1990). "Earnhardt's problems at Charlotte continue". The Roanoke Times. p. 13. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Charlotte race week schedule". The Charlotte Observer. October 1, 1990. p. 28. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (October 5, 1990). "Rain Sends NASCAR To Plan B". The Charlotte Observer. p. 38. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (October 4, 1990). "There's No Place Like Home (Part 1)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 31. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (October 4, 1990). "There's No Place Like Home (Part 2)". The Charlotte Observer. p. 37. Retrieved April 10, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.