| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 29 of 29 in the1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1990 Atlanta Journal 500 program cover, featuringDale Earnhardt. | |||
| Date | November 18, 1990 | ||
| Official name | 31st Annual Atlanta Journal 500 | ||
| Location | Hampton, Georgia,Atlanta Motor Speedway | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 1.522 miles (2.449 km) | ||
| Distance | 328 laps, 499.216 mi (803.41 km) | ||
| Scheduled distance | 328 laps, 499.216 mi (803.41 km) | ||
| Average speed | 140.911 miles per hour (226.774 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 75,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Blue Max Racing | ||
| Time | 31.270 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Bill Elliott | Melling Racing | |
| Laps | 94 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 15 | Morgan Shepherd | Bud Moore Engineering | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ESPN | ||
| Announcers | Bob Jenkins,Ned Jarrett,Benny Parsons | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
The1990 Atlanta Journal 500 was the 29th and finalstock car race of the1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 31st iteration of theevent. The race was held on Sunday, November 18, 1990, before an audience of 75,000 inHampton, Georgia, atAtlanta Motor Speedway, a 1.522 miles (2.449 km) permanent asphalt quad-oval intermediate speedway. The race took the scheduled 328 laps to complete. In the final laps of the race,Bud Moore Engineering driverMorgan Shepherd would manage to defend the field on the final 21-lap green flag stint of the race to take his third careerNASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his only victory of the season.[1][2][3][4]
In the driver's championship,Dale Earnhardt, after keeping his car within the lead pack throughout the race, was able to finish third and ahead of championship contenderMark Martin. Earnhardt was able to win his fourth NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship by a margin of 26 points, a margin that would not have existed if Martin had not been penalized at the1990 Pontiac Excitement 400 where Martin had gotten penalized 46 points after the race.[5]
On lap 300 of the race, an accident would occur on pit road whenRicky Rudd locked up his car's brakes and spun intoBill Elliott's car while Elliott was pitting, with Rudd's car hitting numerous pit crew members of Elliott's team. One of the team members for Elliott, Mike Rich, would die due to a cardiac arrest caused by injuries sustained in the crash.[6]
Atlanta Motor Speedway (formerlyAtlanta International Raceway) is a 1.522-mile race track inHampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south ofAtlanta. It has annually hostedNASCAR Winston Cup Series stock car races since its inauguration in 1960.
The venue was bought bySpeedway Motorsports in 1990. In 1994, 46condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track. In 1997, to standardize the track with Speedway Motorsports' other two intermediate ovals, the entire track was almost completely rebuilt. The frontstretch and backstretch were swapped, and the configuration of the track was changed from oval to quad-oval, with a new official length of 1.54-mile (2.48 km) where before it was 1.522-mile (2.449 km). The project made the track one of the fastest on theNASCAR circuit.
*Replaced byJim Sauter following first-round qualifying.
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, November 16, at 2:00 PMEST. 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 Saturday, November 17, at 10:30 AMEST. 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,[7] 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 were given.
Rusty Wallace, driving forBlue Max Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 31.270 and an average speed of 175.222 miles per hour (281.992 km/h) in the first round.[8]
Eight drivers would fail to qualify.
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| Previous race: 1990 Checker 500 | NASCAR Winston Cup Series 1990 season | Next race: 1991 Daytona 500 |
