1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series - GM Goodwrench 500

GM Goodwrench 500

The GM Goodwrench 500 was held on March 4, 1990 at the North Carolina Motor Speedway. Kyle Petty won the pole and the race in the #42 Peak Pontiac owned by Felix Sabates and wrenched by crew chief Gary Nelson, later of NASCAR R&D.

Top Ten results

1. 42-Kyle Petty
2. 11-Geoff Bodine
3. 25-Ken Schrader -1
4. 94-Sterling Marlin -2
5. 27-Rusty Wallace -2
6. 17-Darrell Waltrip -3
7. 15-Morgan Shepherd -3
8. 57-Jimmy Spencer -3
9. 1-Terry Labonte -3
10. 3-Dale Earnhardt -3

• This was Kyle Petty's first pole on his 277th start. Petty claimed the Unocal 76 Challenge, which had rolled over 29 times since it had last been won. Petty won a bonus of $228,400 in addition to the race purse, for an all-time NASCAR record (at the time) $284,450 single-race payday. Car owner Felix Sebates presented Petty with a Rolls Royce as a gift for winning the elusive bonus.
• This was Kyle's father Richard Petty's 201st NASCAR win in the making. Near the end of practice on Saturday before the next day's race, The King's right rear shock mount broke, sending his primary car into the wall, relegating him to start in the back-up car from the rear of the field in 38th position. Crew-chief Robby Loomis led the team to prepare the back-up and install the Pro Motor Engineering primary engine. (Pro Motor was Petty Enterprises' exclusive Winston Cup 'Open' engine supplier in 1990.) A Pro Motor engine-man performed carburetor tuning, with Richard in the car waiting to go minutes before going out on the grid to line up for the start of the race, that somehow had transformed his car's performance from that of the primary car's the previous day. Petty was having a stellar day with handling and power characteristics unlike anyone else in the rest of the field. As he passed 10th position, the lead drivers became aware of what was happening, and that if it continued history was about to be made that day. Petty was preparing to break NASCAR's 200th race-win barrier. Several laps before lap 294, he had come from 38th to 8th place. However, the engine mysteriously began to gradually lose water-temperature and power. On lap 294, a timing-chain failure allowed a too-late-closing exhaust valve to contact a piston and bring his last lap of the day, and the end to his 201st NASCAR race win.