|| *Comments on the 1990 Pepsi 400:* View the most recent comment <#64> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. Jake posted: 12.29.2004 - 4:41 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Darrell Waltrip was injured badly in practice. A car blew up in front of him, Darrell spun in the guy's oil. As he was trying to restart the car, Dave Marcis spun in the oil and hit Darrell driver's side and t-boned him. Darrell broke his legs, broke an arm, and suffered a concussion. 2. Dave posted: 01.05.2005 - 3:36 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) A lap 1 crash through the tri-oval eliminated most of the field including Richard Petty who had his best Daytona start in a while. 3. Jeff posted: 01.07.2006 - 6:19 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Marcis also suffered the exact same injuries as D.W. did. 4. Steve posted: 05.12.2006 - 8:25 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jimmy Horton filled in for Darrell Waltrip, finishing 17th. The late 1990 Rookie-of-the-Year Rob Moroso scored his only Winston Cup Top 10 (9th). Independant Jimmy Means got his best finish of the season (12th, 2 laps down). Australian Terry Byers makes his final start (40th), after previously starting 4 Cup races. 5. nascarman posted: 05.14.2006 - 1:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Darrell had a limp for a while after that crash. 6. Matt posted: 06.28.2006 - 11:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Three cars failed to qualify including the #72 of Tracy Leslie which crashed hard and caught fire in turn 1, Tracy was uninjured. 7. Matt posted: 06.29.2006 - 3:06 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Marcis was uninjured in the crash. He ran the race in J.D. McDuffie's car after J.D. failed to make the race. 8. Anonymous posted: 08.16.2006 - 8:56 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Sorry, Dave Marcis was injuried in the peactice crash with Waltrip. He was not has badly injuried. I believe Marcis started the race and a relief driver took over! Do not remember who the relief driver was! 9. Matthew Sullivan posted: 11.10.2006 - 3:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jim Sauter was Marcis' relief driver. 10. Steve posted: 11.27.2006 - 8:00 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) race was pretty much a snore fest. they had the 20 car pile up at the end of lap 1. after that only few competitve guys remained, one of which was bill elliott but he had a tire go down and had a single car wreck in turn 1 to bring out the 2nd caution around lap 30-40 area. some where mid way through mark martin spun in the infield comming off turn 2 to bring out caution 3. and with less than 10 to go the dave marcis car spun and hit the wall around the pit exit area. through all of this earnhardt killed em, at one time i think he had a half a lap on everyone else. bobby hillin showed some strength but blew it on the last green flag stop late in the going by spinning out going into his pit stall. earnhardt won by a second and a half and they only had a restart with 2 or 3 to go 11. Matt posted: 12.22.2006 - 5:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) DNQ: J.D. McDuffie, Mark Stahl, and Tracy Leslie. 12. Brock posted: 01.20.2007 - 10:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The lap 1 wreck was blamed on the film "Days of Thunder," whose anthem of over-aggressive driving at Daytona had been released just one week earlier. 13. Anonymous posted: 02.01.2007 - 11:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The crash was caused when Richard Petty tried to pass Greg Sacks and got three wide coming off of turn 4 on the first lap. Greg couldn't hold onto it and spun into Richard causing the huge pile up. 14. Anonymous posted: 02.10.2007 - 12:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was the only restrictor plate race to have the Big One on the first lap. At the time, it was the largest modern-era crash (it still is the largest at Daytona in a Cup race). IIRC, 24 cars were involved. 15. myself posted: 02.13.2007 - 5:58 pm Rate this comment: (0) (2) This race (I was in attendance) was over when the crash happened. Ole' Greg Sacks was being himself....causing wrecks! This one took out Earnhardt's competition. The only driver to mount anything near competition the rest of the race was ole' "Crash" Hillin, but he forgot how to get onto pit road! A real snorer!!!! 16. Matthew Sullivan posted: 08.09.2007 - 5:00 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Rob Moroso's best career Cup finish. 17. Douche Bagolow posted: 08.18.2007 - 1:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The drivers involved in "The Big One" were: Ricky Rudd Rusty Wallace Michael Waltrip Jimmy Horton ( subbing for DW ) Dick Trickle Brett Bodine Butch Miller Davey Allison Geoffrey Bodine Hut Stricklin Chad Little Derrike Cope Buddy Baker Phil Barkdoll Mickey Gibbs Ernie Irvan Morgan Shepherd Charlie Glotzbach Richard Petty Greg Sacks AJ Foyt Rick Wilson Terry Byers 24 cars involved. 18. Senninha posted: 11.25.2007 - 1:28 am Rate this comment: (3) (0) I have the satellite broadcast of the race. The chatter after the big crash amongst the pit reporters and the booth guys was that Greg Sacks's car (a Hendrick R&D car) had the spoiler laid WAY down, which made the car go very fast, but it had little grip at the rear. When Petty made it three wide, Greg lost any air he did have on the spoiler and couldn't hold on to it. Sure, Greg was driving, but it was as much the fault of Gary DeHart and Gary Nelson (the braintrust of Hendrick's R&D at the time) as it was Greg. 19. RaceFanX posted: 12.12.2007 - 3:17 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Well, it only lasted 2 laps but this was Chargin' Charlie Glotzbach's first NASCAR race in almost 9 years, just his second race in the post-81 downsized cars. 20. Mark O. posted: 12.28.2007 - 7:03 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) If you read DW's autobiography, he mentions that following his practice crash; NASCAR inspected the engines and found illegal modifications in several cars, including Sacks. This, as well as the spoiler caused the mayhem. 21. Mark O. posted: 01.08.2008 - 7:44 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) And as a correction, JD McDuffie, not Jim Sauter was the relief driver for Dave Marcis. He crashed later in the race; a clip is on Youtube. 22. Ryan W posted: 02.14.2008 - 9:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race was pretty much like the one in February except Dale didn't blow a tire on the final lap of this one. Had he won the Daytona 500 he would have won every restrictor plate race that year, and he would have won the Winston Million, he did however get the consolation prize of 100,000 dollars for winning at Darlington later that year, and the 500 would have made him his second double digit win season of his career. 23. Theodore posted: 02.15.2008 - 7:36 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Seems to me that Richard Petty caused this accident by diving to the inside and making it three-wide on the backstretch on the first lap. When you watch the replay you can hear Benny Parsons saying "c'mon, King, what are you doing down there?" as Petty goes three-wide and, heading into Turn 4, "boy, somebody's gotta give there." He knew - it was way too early to be racing like that. The result was about as predictable as a sunrise. 24. myself posted: 02.22.2008 - 12:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Give him a break, Theodore! The old buzzard hadn't been up front in no telling how long! 25. Clayton posted: 07.07.2008 - 9:28 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) IDK why everyone is blaming Richard Petty for this one. It looked to me that Sacks was fine until Derrike Cope came down on Sacks sending everyone spinning. 26. Clayton posted: 07.07.2008 - 9:36 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) An in car camera shows Buddy Baker riding next to Jimmy Spencer right in the middle of the accident. IDK how Spencer gets through without any trouble. If the cars involved up top are correct! 27. JCS posted: 08.26.2008 - 1:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I remember this race and how unbelievable that big crash was at the beginning. It must be similar to that legedary '73 Talladega crash. Hated to see Richard Petty, who qualified 7th, get caught up in the wreck. It looked to me like Greg Sacks' car was very wobbly just prior to the crash. 28. bduddy posted: 01.24.2009 - 8:35 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Jimmy Horton was relieved by Greg Sacks due to fumes in the car caused by the first-lap crash. 29. Thomas posted: 03.14.2009 - 2:06 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) I don't believe that "Days of Thunder" was responsible for the crash, but there is one trivia bit that is quite interesting. Question: Who was Tom Cruise's stunt driver for the movie? Answer: Greg Sacks. 30. myself posted: 07.29.2009 - 12:30 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) When Days of Thunder was being made, I had an idiot cousin tell me that Rick Mast was playing the bad guy. 31. martin-n-rusty posted: 02.09.2010 - 1:54 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I'm watching the clip of the crash on YouTube, and it looks more as if Derrike Cope was the cause of the crash more than anything, as it looks like he came down on Sacks, and with Petty already below Sacks, he just did not have much, if any room to operate in. I'm sure the car setup doesn't help much, but I don't believe it was fully Sacks fault. 32. fannie l davis posted: 04.24.2010 - 5:32 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) sorry , myself mr richard petty deserves far more respect than to be called a buzzard.... he is a legend in nascar and he and dale sr always will be 33. myself posted: 06.05.2010 - 9:51 am Rate this comment: (0) (1) LOL! 34. Brandon posted: 06.15.2010 - 2:45 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Are you sure that McDuffie was driving the #84 instead of his usual #70 35. kidracer posted: 08.08.2013 - 10:39 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Intresting that the relief driver (Horton) had to be relieved. 36. Thomas posted: 02.05.2014 - 2:22 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) To the rear: (after the practice accident) 6-Mark Martin (back-up car) 17-Jimmy Horton (back-up car and driver change) 1- Terry Labonte (back-up car) 4-Ernie Irvan (back-up car) 73-Phil Barkdoll (back-up car) 71-Dave Marcis (back-up car) Information courtesy of the full video of the race posted on YouTube. 37. spencer posted: 04.21.2014 - 6:03 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) This race was run at 10:00 AM on a Saturday morning to beat afternoon thunder showers. Ahhhh, the good ole days when they didn't care about ratings and the west coast, and drivers didn't plug sponsors like robotic knuckleheads. 38. Nascar Lead Lap Points posted: 09.30.2014 - 10:53 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) J.D. McDuffie DNQ in the #70 not #84 39. ScoRich223 posted: 07.28.2015 - 3:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) To build on the point Mark O. made, it does say in Darrell Waltrip's biography that after his accident, NASCAR ripped his car apart just like after every other major wreck then, and they discovered that the Hendrick teams were breaking the rules with their engines and had been since the plate era started. Think about it, from 1988 to that point, Hendrick did very well at Daytona and Talladega (Schrader's 3 straight poles in the Daytona 500, DW's 500 win, Schrader's Talladega 500 win, etc). 40. Chives5150 posted: 07.28.2015 - 9:22 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) It looks to me like Petty might have thought about backing out of it coming off of turn 4. He had a slight advantage on the inside with Sacks in between him and Cope. Petty either tried to back off on the exit of 4 or he just plain lost his momentum thanks to Sacks and Cope on his outside, so he couldn't really go anywhere. Sterling Marlin was behind Petty and jumped out of line right before the wreck happened, so he was able to miss it. 1988-1989 NASCAR Australian champion Terry Byers finishes last in his last ever Cup race. He attempted, but failed to qualify for the 1995 Daytona 500, the 1995 Miller Genuine Draft 500 at Pocono, and the 1996 AC-Delco 400 at Rockingham after this race. 41. Fish posted: 10.01.2015 - 5:27 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A picture of Dave Marcis's #71 after the practice crash: http://briancleary-bcpix.photoshelter.com/image/I0000L4x9MyQy42U If you youtube "1990 Pepsi 400", you can find the whole race, including footage of that grinding practice crash. 42. Jack Johnson posted: 01.25.2016 - 7:14 am Rate this comment: (0) (4) Why Do You Have To Include Ricky Rudd On The List Of Drivers Involved In That Big Pile Up At The Beginning Of This Race When He Dodged A Bullet? 43. Tylor Thaber posted: 01.25.2016 - 7:35 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @42 Why do you capitalize each word? Wouldn't that take longer than to just type out a regular sentence? Darrell had no luck in this race. One year he breaks his legs in practice, next year he's involved in a terrifying roll. 44. Josh posted: 03.29.2016 - 1:01 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Sacks was actually handling the car well for being in the middle for the half lap before the accident. What caused the pileup was Derrick Cope coming way too far down heading into the tri-oval. Everybody held their line well until that. Cope came down a full lane into Sacks, which obviously got Sacks out of control, and he clipped both Petty and Cope and set off the whole thing. I'm willing to absolve Sacks on this one. 45. Walker posted: 07.02.2016 - 1:38 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I was 12 years old. My first race. God rest my dads soul. A youngin couldn't script a better start or ending to his first race. Miss you dad. 46. RaceFanX posted: 09.28.2016 - 5:14 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Withdrawn or Driver Change: Darrell Waltrip- #17 Tide Chevrolet owned by Rick Hendrick 47. Josh posted: 02.09.2017 - 12:24 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) The Dave Marcis #71 was a Pontiac here? 48. nascarman posted: 02.09.2017 - 12:53 pm Rate this comment: (3) (0) @47. Yes. When Marcis was in the wreck with Waltrip in practice, his car was destroyed. They didn't have a backup car and made a deal with J.D. McDuffie, who failed to qualify, that Marcis' team would use JDs Pontiac. As Marcis was hurt in the practice wreck, he ran one lap and let McDuffie run the rest of the race. 49. Josh posted: 04.15.2017 - 7:20 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ^ great information, thank you. 50. RaceFanX posted: 04.15.2017 - 9:57 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was to be Darrell Waltrip's 500th consecutive NASCAR Winston Cup start as he closed in on Richard Petty's all-time record at the time of 513. There was a lot of hype coming into this one for that achievement, making it all the sadder when he had streak ended at 499 starts after being sidelined by the practice crash. This was the first Cup race without DW in the field since 1975. 51. Jack Johnson posted: 07.28.2017 - 8:52 pm Rate this comment: (0) (1) Why did they not count the 94 car,driven by Sterling Marlin,among the list of cars involved in that big pile up in this race. He gets hit on the side by the spinning 18 car,driven by Greg Sacks,only to drive away right after that. I would not want to count the 5 car,driven by Ricky Rudd,among the drivers involved in that big pile up in this race. 52. @Statscrash posted: 09.24.2018 - 12:48 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Having watched the video of the big one that wreck is all on Cope. Sacks and Petty had moved apart and then Cope comes down. 53. Jimnsimforever posted: 12.31.2018 - 9:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @37 This race was always scheduled for Saturday July 7th at 10am. It wasn't because of any weather. ESPN had been advertising it weeks ahead of time. Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, and Terry Labonte all left on a flight to Cleveland after their media obligations were done to compete later in the afternoon in the 2nd race of IROC. Busy day for those guys. DW was supposed to race the road course IROC race as well had he not been injured. 54. Jimnsimforever posted: 12.31.2018 - 10:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) First time in history this race was covered live and flag to flag. The year before this ESPN covered it for the first time flag to flag but it was still tape delayed. Before that it was on network television, tape delayed and heavily edited, so I think this race always started at 10 in the morning just so television would have time to edit it and show it in the afternoon on the 4th of July no matter what day of the week it fell on. 55. RaceFanX posted: 12.31.2018 - 10:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) They started at 11 a.m. but it was more to finish the race as soon as possible before everyone cooked in the blazing hot sun of Florida at the height of summer as opposed to the needs of TV. 56. Corey posted: 01.01.2019 - 2:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) @54 RaceFanX is right, the 11a.m. start time was used to try and combat the late afternoon heat and the pop-up thunderstorms that would happen. This start time was used up to 1997. In 1998 lights were added to the track and the race was moved to the nighttime. 57. Jimnsimforever posted: 01.01.2019 - 2:52 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Got the 10am time from the Sonoma/Sears Point race on Youtube. Espn advertised the Daytona race as their next race they would have and showed the on screen advertisement several times showing it starting at 10am. And talked about it several times, so 10am was on my brain. Television coverage time for this particular race. Watched the IROC race from this same day. The guys had time to get to Cleveland, practice for 2 full hours, have the race, pre and post race tv stuff, and it was still daylight at the end of it all. Didn't at least Dale Earnhardt have any media obligations after winning Daytona 400 outside of the victory lane interview? 58. nascarman posted: 01.01.2019 - 9:25 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) 1990 was the last year the race started at 10 am. As Daytona added more seats and more people came to the race, the traffic got so bad from people trying to get there by 10 they needed to schedule the race an hour later so people could get to their seats by the green flag. So between 1991 and 1997, the race started at 11. 59. RaceFan98 posted: 08.04.2019 - 2:16 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) According to ESPN's broadcast, Bobby Hillin started 28th. 60. annoymous posted: 10.13.2019 - 12:55 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) this race was the debut of the new graphics at the time ESPN used from 1990-1994. And fittingly the first massive big one aka the original big one of the restrictor plate era happened. 61. SweetRich posted: 03.11.2020 - 11:49 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) The commentators for the race were Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett and Benny Parsons with Jerry Punch and John Kernan on pit road. 62. BOBO83329521 posted: 06.18.2020 - 7:04 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Hillin looked to have something for Earnhardt but in an attempt to beat him on pit strategy locked up the tires and spun out getting into his pit stall leading to his team pitting his car in the middle of pit road and not within the stall it didn't look like 63. Trickledown posted: 08.19.2020 - 3:02 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) There was a campy introduction with Dr. Jerry Punch's Daytona House and promotional connection with Hanna Barbera cartoons where he slept in, then had to rush out of the house to make it to the Pitlane for work. 64. danny posted: 12.18.2020 - 2:30 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) ESPN first used the 1990-1994 graphics for Major League Baseball when they first had them full time, they weren't used for NASCAR's coverage or motorsports coverage until this race. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: