1990 Banquet Frozen Foods 300

1990 Banquet Frozen Foods 300

Race details[1]
Race 12 of 29 in the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season
Track map for Sonoma Raceway. The NASCAR track is emphasized in this version.
Date	June 10, 1990
Location	Sonoma Raceway, Sonoma, California
Course	Permanent racing facility 1.99 mi (3.2 km)
Distance	74 laps, 172.88 mi (308.69 km)
Weather	Hot with temperatures reaching up to 88 °F (31 °C); wind speeds up to 15 miles per hour (24 km/h)
Attendance	66,000[2]
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.^[3]

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.^[2] 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.

I was going into a turn when a tire blew and spun me around,The next thing I knew I was flying through the air. The car landed so far up in the sticks I don't know how we'll get it back

— Rob Moroso

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.^[2] 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.^[2]

West Series driver and occasional Truck Series racer Terry Fisher was competitive all race and ended up a more-than-respectable 15th on the lead lap.^[2]

After this race, Mark Martin had a 136-point lead over Dale Earnhardt who was 4th in points after this race. Mark didn't lose the championship because of the penalty at Richmond. He lost it because Earnhardt dominated the rest of the year and took the championship away from him.

Individual earnings for each driver ranged from the winner's share of $69,100 ($125,369.15 when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's share of $3,325 ($6,032.60 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 ($804,570.61 when adjusted for inflation).^[4]

Top ten finishers

Pos[2]	Grid	No.	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Laps led
1	11	27	Rusty Wallace	Pontiac	74	42
2	5	6	Mark Martin	Ford	74	0
3	1	5	Ricky Rudd	Chevrolet	74	13
4	26	11	Geoffrey Bodine	Ford	74	0
5	31	8	Bobby Hillin, Jr.	Buick	74	4
6	17	94	Sterling Marlin	Oldsmobile	74	0
7	2	4	Ernie Irvan	Oldsmobile	74	7
8	28	0	Irv Hoerr	Oldsmobile	74	0
9	20	30	Michael Waltrip	Pontiac	74	0
10	14	75	Rick Wilson	Oldsmobile	74	0

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 5: Caution due to Jack Sellers' accident, ended on lap 7
• Lap 10: Caution due to Ted Kennedy's accident, ended on lap 11
• 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 while Harry Gant managed to wander off the course
• Lap 41: Dick Trickle's engine issue forced him to leave the race
• Lap 43: Caution due to Dick Trickle having his vehicle stall on turn 2, ended on lap 44
• 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 63: Caution due to an accident involving Kyle Petty and two other drives, ended on lap 66
• Lap 70: Morgan Shepherd's problematic engine forced him to leave the race
• Lap 74: Caution due to Terry Labonte having his vehicle stall on turn 11
• Finish: Rusty Wallace was officially declared the winner of the event

Standings after the race

Pos	Driver	Points[2]	Differential
1	Mark Martin	1800	0
2	Morgan Shepherd	1738	-62
3	Rusty Wallace	1688	-112
4	Dale Earnhardt	1664	-136
5	Geoffrey Bodine	1644	-156
6	Kyle Petty	1594	-206
7	Ken Schrader	1555	-245
8	Bill Elliott	1546	-254
9	Darrell Waltrip	1517	-283
10	Ernie Irvan	1504	-296

References

1. Weather information for the 1990 Banquet Frozen Foods 300 at The Old Farmers' Almanac
2. 1990 Banquet Frozen Foods 300 racing information at Racing Reference
3. Introductions/retirements from NASCAR following the 1990 Banquet Frozen Foods 300 at Race Database
4. Racing winnings for the 1990 Banquet Frozen Foods 300 at Fantasy Racing Cheat Sheet