|| *Comments on the 1990 First Union 400:* View the most recent comment <#37> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Jake posted: 12.20.2004 - 1:57 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Controversy erupted in this race. I remember reading about in both Larry McReynolds' and Darrell Waltrip's books. Darrell was leading when a caution came out and Brett Bodine was on the tail-end of the lead lap. Since NASCAR didn't have electronic scoring until 1993, the pace-car picked Brett Bodine up as the leader. Larry McReynolds was Brett's crew chief. As it turned out, it was Bodine's only career win and Larry Mac's first oval track win as a crew chief. He had won 2 road-course races w/ Ricky Rudd in 1988 and 1989. 2. Michael Lindeen posted: 06.28.2005 - 8:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Last race win for Buick. 3. Darrell posted: 10.02.2005 - 4:16 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Only win for Brett Bodine. I was a huge DW fan, but I can let this one go consiering how tough a time Brett had in the later stages of his career. 4. mcmurrayfan posted: 06.30.2006 - 4:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) First Cup start for Kenny Wallace. 5. Fenway posted: 09.29.2006 - 3:51 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) The pace car might've picked Brett Bodine up as the leader, but he had the car to stay up there. 6. Anonymous posted: 11.16.2006 - 12:27 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Yeah. If he didn't, he wouldn't have led the most laps. 7. myself posted: 03.15.2007 - 4:13 pm Rate this comment: (1) (3) Only way Brett Bodine could ever win a cup race was by incorrect scoring. 8. stricklinfan82 posted: 07.04.2007 - 5:47 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) Here's how Brett Bodine won the race: The track was very abrasive, so fresh tires were a major advantage. Brett Bodine was running in the top 10 and made a green flag pit stop several laps before race leaders Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, and Mark Martin. Short-pitting got him the lead when the stops cycled through, because he made up so much time under green running on fresh tires. When Kenny Wallace crashed right as the round of stops was completed, the pace car picked up 2nd place Dale Earnhardt as the leader. By the time NASCAR realized their mistake and waved the rest of the field around the pace car to fall in behind race leader Bodine, Brett had snuck in a four-tire change under yellow. After the restart Bodine had the freshest tires on the track and held on to the lead the rest of the race. That's why Darrell Waltrip was so upset after this race. Bodine got a "free" set of tires and Waltrip couldn't run him down on older tires. 9. stricklinfan82 posted: 07.04.2007 - 5:56 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Here's how Brett Bodine won the race: He was running in the top 10 and made a green flag stops several laps before the leaders. The time he made up with fresh tires under green gave him the lead when the stops cycled through, but he was bound to lose it shortly because he was on older tires. Kenny Wallace crashed right after the round of stops was finished and the pace car picked up 2nd place Dale Earnhardt as the leader (he was on Bodine's bumper and NASCAR thought he was about to put Brett a lap down). By the time NASCAR realized their mistake after several laps of caution and waved the rest of the field around the pace car to catch up to Bodine, Brett had snuck in a four-tire change under the yellow flag. That gave Bodine the freshest tires on the track and enabled him to hold on to the win as the race went green flag the rest of the way. Had NASCAR correctly picked up Bodine as the leader when the yellow came out he would have been a sitting duck on old tires but the pace car's mistake let him get a "free" set of tires without losing track position. 10. Douche Bagolow posted: 12.17.2007 - 6:42 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Mike Alexander's last NA$CAR start. 11. Clayton posted: 04.22.2008 - 8:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) That's right! Bodine might not have won, we don't know, but He wasn't the leader! It was suppose to be Darrell Waltrip! What pissed DW off even more was he didn't win a race in 1990 the first time in several years. He would have had the record for consecutive seasons with wins, but because of this mistake by NASCAR that wouldn't have happened! 12. DaleJrFan17 posted: 08.03.2008 - 11:51 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) If this was a lucky win, then Brett wouldnt have led the rest of the way 13. DaleSrFanForever posted: 09.02.2008 - 8:26 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) This was the first race I ever attended. I was 6 years old and I can still smell the rubber burning in my mind, and still see the brightly colored cars. This was long before HD TV, all we had was an old TV set with a kinda dull color. The Purolator car looked dark red, and the Tide car looked burnt orange. But at the race I saw that the Purolator car was bright pink and Darrell's car was BRIGHT orange. I have been hooked on NASCAR ever since. God I miss this track. 14. JCS posted: 09.15.2008 - 8:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) After this race, Quaker State put together a TV commercial based on Brett's win in the Quaker State car. The commercial ran through '90 and maybe '91 season. 15. Anonymous posted: 06.01.2009 - 6:57 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) I can't stand the Bodines, but any time Waltrip got beat and sounded like a cry baby afterwards was a good day. 16. 18fan posted: 08.29.2010 - 11:01 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Clayton, Brett Bodine was the leader when the screw up happened. He was right in front of Earnhardt when the pace car picked up Earnhardt instead of Brett. Waltrip passed Earnhardt later to take second. 17. Stadler & Waldorf posted: 09.10.2010 - 7:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) According to Greg Fielden in "Forty plus four", what StriklanFan posted is totally correct. Apparently they ran 17 laps under the yellow while the "officials" checked the lap charts, discussed it and sorted it out. 18. Steve posted: 01.11.2012 - 10:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dick Trickle ran in the Top 5 almost all day. He was running 7th (according to Bob Jenkins) when the engine failed in Cale Yarborough's Pontiac. He was one of the unlucky drivers (one of the unluckiest, IMO) who started hundreds of Winston Cup races without finding a checkered flag, while Brett Bodine had that one day in the sun that took him from that group of G.C. Spencers, Jimmy Means', Neil Castles', Cecil Gordons, and Banjo Matthews' to that famed list of Winston Cup winners. 19. Lea DeFoote posted: 01.30.2014 - 10:02 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This list shows the #2 car as a Chevrolet, however, in this picture from the race: http://tradingcarddb.com/ViewCard.cfm/sid/5804/cid/1813087 the #2 (white car at the top of the frame) is clearly a Pontiac. 20. Evan posted: 04.10.2014 - 3:09 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) When Darrell Waltrip protested Bodine's win, Bill France Jr. tells Darrell something like "Darrell, that's that Bodine boy's first win, I'm sure you can remember when your first win was, and what a thrill it was and you want to protest that boy's first win, you are a great driver Darrell, am sure you will have many wins in your career", unfortunately Darrell Waltrip would not win any races in 1990 and it was his first full season not winning a race. 21. Guest posted: 02.17.2015 - 1:06 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) 18fan posted: "Clayton, Brett Bodine was the leader when the screw up happened. He was right in front of Earnhardt when the pace car picked up Earnhardt instead of Brett. Waltrip passed Earnhardt later to take second." No, I have the race on tape, yes Bodine was ahead of Earnhardt when the caution flew after Kenny Wallace spun because he was the LAST CAR ON THE LEAD LAP. No way, no how was he the leader of the race. Earnhardt should have been picked up as the leader at the caution with DW second, DW was able to get around Earnhardt after the restart which should of been the pass for the lead and the win. 22. Jessie Henry posted: 08.11.2015 - 12:43 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) I Think Nascar Got It Wrong 23. Tylor Thaber posted: 08.11.2015 - 1:03 am Rate this comment: (1) (1) @22 Glad to hear. Why not expand upon that opinion instead of delivering a barebones statement? 24. Sonic 99 posted: 03.11.2016 - 2:29 pm Rate this comment: (3) (1) Guest, no, Bodine was indeed the leader. I'm watching the satellite feed of this race now. Brett short-pitted from 4th place, not far behind the leaders, maybe 10-15 laps before the leaders. Fresh tires were over a second faster over old tires. Earnhardt was just behind Bodine after Bodine's stop, about to put him a second lap down. Before Earnhardt pits, he's getting blown by by the cars on fresh tires. Bodine pulled away by a significant amount. Earnhardt and the rest of the leaders then pit, and Bodine cycles to the lead because of how fast he had been on the fresh tires. When the yellow came out, Bodine was legitimately the leader. The controversy is that apparently Bodine jumped into the pits when the yellow came out and got fresh tires. In theory, if NASCAR had picked him up from the beginning, he would have been tail end of the lead lap. Somehow though, NASCAR missed him pitting. Then someone said "no, Bodine was the leader" so they cycled everyone around to put the 26 back up front. But because he had somehow pitted without anyone in NASCAR noticing, he was now up front with fresh tires, instead of up front with old tires as he should have been. Hence the controversy. For the record, on the satellite feed, I can't find any proof that he indeed snuck into the pits. But those there claim he pitted as soon as the yellow came out (the pits didn't close when the yellow came out back then, so it was very legal to do). 25. WarriorMan48 posted: 12.21.2016 - 9:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) If McReynolds made the call for Brett to pit as soon as the caution came out, then that's one of the most brilliant strategy calls I've ever heard. 26. Greg24ChaseFan posted: 08.23.2017 - 9:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) My first race. I was 11 years old at the time. I didn't really understand what was going on, I just liked the fast cars and Rusty Wallace haha 27. Greg24ChaseFan posted: 08.23.2017 - 9:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Watched the race many times on replay, Brett had a fast car, top 3-5 car so the win wasn't totally a fluke, but he got a huge assist to get around the 2 or 3 cars that were better than him, with fresher tires to boot. I miss North Wilkesboro. The racing there was amazing. Same with Rockingham. 28. Greg24ChaseFan posted: 08.23.2017 - 9:10 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) #24, Bodine may have been the leader, which is arguable but I'll just agree. The problem was he got a free set of tires basically, you are right about that. Either way he got an assist with an already fast race car. 29. Anonymous posted: 03.03.2018 - 7:29 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I believe there were 9 cars on the lead lap after the NASCAR officials sorted things out during the lengthy caution. Therefore Brett Bodine presumably should have restarted the race in the 9th spot rather that as the leader. If Brett had fresher tires than the rest of the lead lap cars wouldn't he have possibly worked his way back to the front rather quickly? There is a clip on YouTube that talks about the controversy regarding this race. Brett mentions the fact that nobody wanted to acknowledge that he had a very good race car that day. I think the popular belief that he won the race simply due to a scoring error has been blown a little out of proportion. 30. Jimnsimforever posted: 12.29.2018 - 2:34 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Getting ready to watch this full race for the first time, but there is some extreme irony surrounding this race. It was the 2nd time on a short track that controversy arose because of the wrong driver being declared the winner of the race, according to many people. In this one Brett Bodine, in Kenny Bernstein's #26 Quaker State car, with Larry McReynolds as his crew chief won the race. He may not have, and maybe should've been on the tail end of the lead lap. Nobody can deny that Brett had a fast car though because he was able to stay out in front and be declared as leading 146 laps. In the first one, 1988 Richmond, the final race with the old 1/2 mile configuration, Neil Bonnet won the race when actually he should've maybe been on the tail end of the lead lap. Once again, nobody could deny that he had a strong car though because he led 141 laps. The 2nd place car in that race that maybe should've been the winner: Ricky Rudd, in Kenny Bernstein's #26 Quaker State car, with Larry McReynolds as the crew chief. And they were extremely mad with Rudd pulling in behind Bonnett in victory lane after the race and refusing to leave. Why does everybody to this day make a much bigger deal about 1990 North Wilkesboro and not 1988 in Richmond when the same thing happened? I can answer that. Brett Bodine wasn't a popular driver that everybody loved. Neil Bonnett was a popular driver that everyone loved, it was his first win in a while, he went through a lot of injuries near the end of his career and ultimately died during speedweeks 94 in Daytona. Human Psychology is amazing. Same thing happens, one nobody talks about, the other there are still tv specials, books and controversy about it to this day. All because of one driver being a person everyone in the Nascar community loved and the other being one maybe some thought was only there with a full time ride for so long because of his last name. 31. Me. posted: 04.12.2019 - 4:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I think this whole story about him sneaking onto pit road is just that, a story. A fabrication used to try and discredit Bodine holding off Waltrip to win. God forbid we have a northern driver win. Probably why Keselowski and Logano are hated too. 32. Corey posted: 04.12.2019 - 6:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Logano and Keselowski are not hated for being from the north and neither was Bodine. If that were the case then Kenseth, Benson, Craven, the Truex's, the Wallace's, and the Sauter's would all be hated. They weren't. 33. Andrew posted: 04.23.2020 - 9:04 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) There's STILL a lot of confusion about what happened in this race all these years later, largely from DW's false information that has made it into the various videos and TV shows that are out there. Here's what actually happened: Brett Bodine had led 63 laps in the middle of the race and then re-took the lead on lap 318 after short pitting on a round of green flag pit stops. When the caution came out on lap 321, the pace car mistakenly picked up 2nd place Dale Earnhardt as the race leader, putting Brett almost a lap in front of the entire field. During the ensuing confusion of a 17 lap caution flag (NASCAR did not have electronic scoring at the time) Bodine was able to make a pit stop for fresh tires without losing any positions. When NASCAR reset the lineup with Bodine as the leader, he led the final 83 laps of the race (a race-high 146 laps overall) to take the victory. ``We messed up,' said Chip Williams, NASCAR's public relations director. ``By throwing the caution on the second-place car, it kept Bodine in the lead. He slipped into the pits and came out without losing the lead because the pace car was keeping the second-place car back. We messed up by picking up the wrong car. It was a judgment call, and you can't overrule a judgment call.' Here's an article from the time: https://www.greensboro.com/brett-bodine-gains-a-disputed-first-win/article_c41145ce-c8d6-5d98-8571-2d4059e3c070.html It's impossible to say how the race would have played out if the pace car had properly picked up Brett as the leader when the caution came out. They might have decided to stay out and kept the lead with (slightly) older tires. Or they might have pitted and restarted a few spots further back with fresher tires. He either would have been the leader or the first car in line with brand new tires. We do know that Brett had a strong car that day and he was often very competitive at Wilksboro. He followed up his win in this race with 3rd place in the 1990 fall race. Brett also had a strong run in his attempt to win back to back First Union 400s at Wilksboro 1991, starting from the pole position and leading 103 of the race's first 218 laps, but on lap 219, as the race leader, Brett was wrecked by the lapped car of Ricky Rudd on restart, ending his day. He won a pole here in 1993 and had a total of 6 top 10s at the track. 34. BOBO83329521 posted: 06.05.2020 - 4:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Brett Bodine WAS most likely the leader when the caution came out. The speed advantage of fresh tires at North Wilkesboro in 1990 plus the excessive length of both Earnhardt 24.8 and Waltrip's 20.9 pit stops would suggest this to be the case. (Bodine was around 6-8 seconds back before pit stops, came out around ~40 seconds back, then used fresh tire advantage for ~15 laps before Earnhardt had a 24 second pit stop + driver time = enough time to allow Bodine to pass and take the lead.) 35. BOBO83329521 posted: 06.05.2020 - 5:38 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Also, Kenny Bernstein as an owner got his only win at a non road course, also his only win with a driver not named Ricky Rudd. 36. Ryan posted: 07.19.2020 - 12:05 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @30 More than likely McReynolds may have remembered this and did the same. 37. Rich posted: 12.25.2020 - 6:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett and Benny Parsons were the commentators. Dr. Jerry Punch and John Kernan were the pit road reporters. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: