1990 Banquet Frozen Foods 300

Race details
Race 12 of 29 in the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1990 Banquet Frozen Foods 300 program cover, featuring Butch Miller.
Date	June 10, 1990
Official name	2nd Annual Banquet Frozen Foods 300
Location	Sonoma, California, Sears Point International Raceway
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.52 mi (4.06 km)
Distance	74 laps, 186.48 mi (300.11 km)
Scheduled Distance	74 laps, 186.48 mi (300.11 km)
Average speed	69.245 miles per hour (111.439 km/h)
Attendance	62,000
Pole position
Driver	Ricky Rudd	Hendrick Motorsports
Time	1:39.743
Most laps led
Driver	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing
Laps	42
Winner
No. 27	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max 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 Banquet Frozen Foods 300 was the 12th stock car race of the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season, the second race of the 1990 NASCAR Winston West Series season, and the second iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, June 10, 1990, before an audience of 62,000 at the Grand Prix layout of Sears Point Raceway, a 2.52 miles (4.06 km) permanent road course layout. The race took the scheduled 74 laps to complete. At race's end, Blue Max Racing driver Rusty Wallace would manage to dominate a majority of the race to take his 18th 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, Roush Racing driver Mark Martin and Hendrick Motorsports driver Ricky Rudd would finish second and third, respectively.

Background

The layout of Sears Point Raceway used by NASCAR at the time.

Sears Point Raceway is one of two road courses to hold NASCAR races, the other being Watkins Glen International. The standard road course at Sears Point Raceway is a 12-turn course that is 2.52 miles (4.06 km) long;^[5] the track was modified in 1998, adding the Chute, which bypassed turns 5 and 6, shortening the course to 1.95 miles (3.14 km). The Chute was only used for NASCAR events such as this race, and was criticized by many drivers, who preferred the full layout.^[6] In 2001, it was replaced with a 70-degree turn, 4A, bringing the track to its current dimensions of 1.99 miles (3.20 km).^[7]

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, June 8, at 4:00 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 25 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 Saturday, June 9, at 1:00 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 26-40 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; which was two for cars in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and two extra provisionals for the NASCAR Winston West Series.

Ricky Rudd, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 1:39.743 and an average speed of 90.954 miles per hour (146.376 km/h) in the first round.^[9][10]

Four drivers would fail to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 1 Mark Martin 1,800 1 2 Morgan Shepherd 1,738 (-62) 1 3 Rusty Wallace 1,688 (-112) 1 4 Dale Earnhardt 1,664 (–136) 5 Geoff Bodine 1,644 (–156) 6 Kyle Petty 1,594 (–206) 2 7 Ken Schrader 1,555 (–245) 8 Bill Elliott 1,546 (–254) 2 9 Darrell Waltrip 1,517 (–283) 10 Ernie Irvan 1,504 (–296) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References