1990 Miller Genuine Draft 500

1990 Miller Genuine Draft 500

Race details
Race 13 of 29 in the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1990 Miller Genuine Draft 500 program cover, featuring Rusty Wallace. Artwork by NASCAR artist Sam Bass.
Date	June 17, 1990
Official name	9th Annual Miller Genuine Draft 500
Location	Long Pond, Pennsylvania, Pocono Raceway
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.0 km)
Distance	200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km)
Scheduled Distance	200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km)
Average speed	120.6 miles per hour (194.1 km/h)
Attendance	80,000
Pole position
Driver	Ernie Irvan	Morgan-McClure Motorsports
Time	56.693
Most laps led
Driver	Geoff Bodine	Junior Johnson & Associates
Laps	31
Winner
No. 33	Harry Gant	Leo Jackson Motorsports
Television in the United States
Network	Viewer's Choice (PPV)
Announcers	Dave Despain, Lyn St. James, Phil Parsons
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1990 Miller Genuine Draft 500 was the 13th stock car race of the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the ninth iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, June 17, 1990, before an audience of 80,000 in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, at Pocono Raceway, a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) triangular permanent course. The race took the scheduled 200 laps to complete. In the final laps, Leo Jackson Motorsports driver Harry Gant mounted a late-race charge, passing for the lead with 12 laps to go in the race to take his 11th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his only victory of the season.^[1][2][3] To fill out the top three, Blue Max Racing driver Rusty Wallace and Junior Johnson & Associates driver Geoff Bodine would finish second and third, respectively.

The race was held at Pocono International Raceway, which is a three-turn superspeedway located in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. The track hosts two annual NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, as well as one Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series event. Until 2019, the track also hosted an IndyCar Series race.

Pocono International Raceway is one of a very few NASCAR tracks not owned by either Speedway Motorsports, Inc. or International Speedway Corporation. It is operated by the Igdalsky siblings Brandon, Nicholas, and sister Ashley, and cousins Joseph IV and Chase Mattioli, all of whom are third-generation members of the family-owned Mattco Inc, started by Joseph II and Rose Mattioli.

Outside of the NASCAR races, the track is used throughout the year by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and motorcycle clubs as well as racing schools and an IndyCar race. The triangular oval also has three separate infield sections of racetrack – North Course, East Course and South Course. Each of these infield sections use a separate portion of the tri-oval to complete the track. During regular non-race weekends, multiple clubs can use the track by running on different infield sections. Also some of the infield sections can be run in either direction, or multiple infield sections can be put together – such as running the North Course and the South Course and using the tri-oval to connect the two.

• (R) denotes rookie driver.

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, June 15, at 3:00 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 15 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 16, at 10:30 AM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 16-40 would be decided on time,^[4] 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.

Ernie Irvan, driving for Morgan–McClure Motorsports, would win the pole, setting a time of 56.693 and an average speed of 158.750 miles per hour (255.483 km/h) in the first round.^[5][6]

Mike Potter was the only driver to fail to qualify.

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Mark Martin 1,926 2 Morgan Shepherd 1,873 (-53) 3 Rusty Wallace 1,863 (-63) 1 4 Geoff Bodine 1,819 (–107) 1 5 Dale Earnhardt 1,793 (–133) 6 Kyle Petty 1,733 (–193) 7 Ken Schrader 1,673 (–253) 8 Bill Elliott 1,661 (–265) 9 Darrell Waltrip 1,659 (–267) 10 Ernie Irvan 1,621 (–305) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.