1990 Banquet Frozen Foods 300

1990 Banquet Frozen Foods 300

Race details
Race 12 of 29 in the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Track as used by NASCAR
Date	June 10, 1990 (1990-June-10)
Location	Sonoma Raceway (Sonoma, California, U.S.A.)
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.99 mi (3.2 km)
Distance	74 laps, 172.88 mi (308.69 km)
Weather	Temperatures reaching up to 88 °F (31 °C); wind speeds up to 15 miles per hour (24 km/h)[1]
Pole position
Driver	Ricky Rudd	Hendrick Motorsports
Most laps led
Driver	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing
Laps	42
Winner
No. 27	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing

The 1990 Banquet Frozen Foods 300 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that took place on June 10, 1990, at Sears Point International Raceway in the American community of Sonoma, California.

Mike Chase, Butch Gilliland, and Jack Sellers would make their introductions into the NASCAR Cup Series in this event while Stan Barrett and Ted Kennedy would leave the Cup Series after this event.^[2]

Summary

A grand total of 44 American-born drivers participated in this 74-lap event. Hershel McGriff was the unfortunate last-place finisher due to a problematic stock car engine on the second lap. While Jack Sellers was the last man to actually finish the event, a faulty engine on lap 70 prevented Morgan Shepherd from finishing anywhere except in the middle of the pack.^[3]

The average green flag run was determined to be 6 laps; with slightly more than 32% of the entire race being run under a caution flag. Race-related accidents and vehicles stalling out on the relatively length road course track were the majority of the reasons behind the yellow flag laps. After two hours and forty-five minutes of racing, Rusty Wallace would defeat Mark Martin under the race's final caution flag. Amongst the drivers who failed to qualify for the race were Jimmy Means and Mike Hickingbottom. Mark Martin would maintain a 62 point lead for the 1990 Winston Cup Series championship against Morgan Shepherd after this event was through.^[3] Vehicles in this race ran speeds averaging up to 69.245 miles per hour (111.439 km/h); making it the slowest NASCAR Cup Series event in the history of Sonoma Raceway.^[3]

Individual earnings for each driver ranged from the winner's share of $69,100 ($124,735.53 when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's share of $3,325 ($6,002.11 when adjusted for inflation). NASCAR officials were authorized to hand out a sum of $443,457 to all the drivers who qualified for this racing event ($800,504.27 when adjusted for inflation).^[4]

Top ten finishers

1. Rusty Wallace – #27
2. Mark Martin – #6
3. Ricky Rudd – #5
4. Geoffrey Bodine – #11
5. Bobby Hillin, Jr. – #8
6. Sterling Marlin – #94
7. Ernie Irvan – #4
8. Irv Hoerr – #0
9. Michael Waltrip – #30
10. Rick Wilson – #75

Timeline

• Start of race: Ricky Rudd started out with the pole position
• Lap 2: A blown engine made Hershel McGriff into the event's last-place finisher
• Lap 11: Oil line issues would take Ted Kennedy out of the race
• Lap 12: Ernie Irvan took over the lead from Ricky Rudd
• Lap 17: Rob Moroso had a terminal crash
• Lap 19: Mike Chase took over the lead from Ernie Irvan
• Lap 23: Rusty Wallace took over the lead from Mike Chase
• Lap 31: Tommy Kendall took over the lead from Rusty Wallace
• Lap 35: Rusty Wallace took over the lead from Tommy Kendall
• Lap 38: Brett Bodine had a terminal crash; ending his race weekend prematurely
• Lap 41: Dick Trickle's engine issue forced him to leave the race
• Lap 46: Tommy Kendall had a terminal crash; forcing him to exit the race early
• Lap 54: Bobby Hillin, Jr. took over the lead from Rusty Wallace
• Lap 58: Ricky Rudd took over the lead from Bobby Hillin, Jr.
• Lap 60: Rusty Wallace took over the lead from Ricky Rudd
• Lap 62: Terry Labonte's issues with his vehicles clutch ended his race weekend too early
• Lap 70: Morgan Shepherd's problematic engine forced him to leave the race
• End of race: Rusty Wallace won the race

Standings after the race

References