| Type: | NASWINSTON |
| Official Name: | 32nd Annual Pepsi 400 |
| Caption: | The 1990 Pepsi 400 program cover. |
| Date: | July 7 |
| Avg: | 160.894mph |
| Season No: | 29 |
| Race No: | 15 |
| Scheduled Laps: | 160 |
| Course Km: | 4.0 |
| Distance Laps: | 160 |
| Distance Km: | 643.737 |
| Course Mi: | 2.5 |
| Scheduled Km: | 643.737 |
| Scheduled Mi: | 400 |
| Race Name: | Pepsi 400 |
| Location: | Daytona Beach, Florida, Daytona International Speedway |
| Announcers: | Bob Jenkins, Benny Parsons, Ned Jarrett |
| Radio: | Motor Racing Network |
| Network: | ESPN |
| First Team: | Richard Childress Racing |
| First Driver: | Dale Earnhardt |
| Pole Team: | Hendrick Motorsports |
| Most Team: | Richard Childress Racing |
| Pole Driver: | Greg Sacks |
| Most Driver: | Dale Earnhardt |
| Most Laps: | 127 |
| Car: | 3 |
| Year: | 1990 |
| Distance Mi: | 400 |
| Pole Time: | 46.028 |
The 1990 Pepsi 400 was the 15th stock car race of the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 32nd iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, July 7, 1990, in Daytona Beach, Florida at Daytona International Speedway, a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) permanent triangular-shaped superspeedway. The race took the scheduled 160 laps to complete. In a three-lap shootout to the finish, Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt would manage to defend the field to complete a dominant performance throughout the race, leading 127 laps. The victory was Earnhardt's 44th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his fifth victory of the season.[1] [2] [3] [4] To fill out the top three, owner-driver Alan Kulwicki and Hendrick Motorsports driver Ken Schrader would finish second and third, respectively.
Heading into lap two of the race, a 23-car crash would occur on the track's front-stretch after Derrike Cope's car would accidentally scuff into the right side of Greg Sacks's car, sending Sacks loose into Richard Petty's car, sending Petty's car directly crashing in front of the oncoming field, triggering a major pileup, commonly referred to in NASCAR as a big one.[5]
Daytona International Speedway is one of three superspeedways to hold NASCAR races, the other two being Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway. The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long. The track's turns are banked at 31 degrees, while the front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at 18 degrees.
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, July 5, at 10:00 AM 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, July 6, at 11:00 AM 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,[6] 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.
Greg Sacks, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 46.028 and an average speed of 195.533mph in the first round.[7] [8]
Three drivers would fail to qualify.
| Pos | Driver | Points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mark Martin | 2,221 | |||||||
| 3 | 2 | Dale Earnhardt | 2,158 (-63) | ||||||
| 1 | 3 | Rusty Wallace | 2,096 (-125) | ||||||
| 1 | 4 | Geoff Bodine | 2,072 (–149) | ||||||
| 3 | 5 | Morgan Shepherd | 2,058 (–163) | ||||||
| 6 | Kyle Petty | 2,009 (–212) | |||||||
| 2 | 7 | Ken Schrader | 1,990 (–291) | ||||||
| 1 | 8 | Ernie Irvan | 1,860 (–361) | ||||||
| 1 | 9 | Bill Elliott | 1,835 (–386) | ||||||
| 2 | 10 | Darrell Waltrip | 1,777 (–444) | ||||||
| Official driver's standings | |||||||||