NASCAR in 1990: Key story lines, moments of the season

The year was 1990. "Ghost," starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore, was the highest-grossing film. Janet Jackson had the best-selling album of the year, according to Billboard. It was also a year that saw "Days of Thunder," starring Tom Cruise, hit movie theaters. In the NASCAR world, it was a year that belonged to Dale Earnhardt, who won nine races and eventually his fourth championship in the sport's top series. Take a look back at the 1990 NASCAR season with the key moments and stories from the year.

The 1990 Daytona 500 looked to be where Earnhardt would get his first Daytona 500 win. Earnhardt dominated the day, leading 155 laps. Late in the race, Earnhardt and Derrike Cope traded the lead several times. Leading on the last lap, Earnhardt ran over debris and shredded the right-rear tire. Cope would go on to win the race, while Earnhardt wouldn’t get that elusive Daytona 500 victory until 1998. But bigger things were on the horizon for "The Intimidator" in this season.

Over the course of the season, Roush Fenway Racing's Mark Martin would emerge as the main challenger to Earnhardt for the series' championship, leading the points for over half the season. Martin would win the second race of the season at Richmond International Raceway (now just Richmond Raceway) and go on to win three races in 1990. He'd finish second in the standings for the first of five times in his Hall of Fame career.

Earnhardt's first win of 1990 season was also the 40th of his Cup career with his win from the pole at Atlanta International Raceway (now Atlanta Motor Speedway). He led 216 laps on the day to best Morgan Shepherd and a young Ernie Irvan (more on him later) for the victory.

Earnhardt found great success at Darlington Raceway throughout his career, earning nine wins at the track -- one of four venues where he won at least nine times. Talladega Superspeedway, Bristol International Speedway (now Bristol Motor Speedway) and Atlanta are the others. The second half of the spring Darlington race saw Earnhardt in command for back-to-back victories on the season -- one of three times he would do that in 1990.

After his involvement in a 13-car crash in the spring Darlington race, Neil Bonnett was suffering from amnesia and stepped away from racing for the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing team. In his place, the Woods turned to future Hall of Famer Dale Jarrett to pilot the Ford for the organization.

The 1990 season saw Brett Bodine notch his lone Cup win in a career where he compiled 480 starts. Bodine bested NASCAR Hall of Famers Darrell Waltrip and Earnhardt at North Wilkesboro on April 22 in the No. 26 Buick for the victory.

Geoffrey Bodine had the best season of his career in 1990. Driving for Junior Johnson, he scored three wins, including a sweep of the Cup races at Martinsville Speedway. He won the spring race from the pole and led 270 of 500 laps. He finished a career-best third in the standings, while posting career bests in top fives (11) and top 10s (19).

Would you believe that in Rusty Wallace’s Hall of Fame career, he has only won one crown jewel race? That came in 1990 with a dominating showing in the Coca-Cola 600, where he led 306 of 400 laps for the victory. In his career, Wallace never won the Daytona 500, Southern 500 (at Darlington) or the Winston 500 (at Talladega). Those races, along with the Coke 600, were considered the crown jewel events in 1990s.

In what turned out to be his final season with Hendrick Motorsports, Waltrip suffered a broken arm, broken leg and concussion after a practice accident for the summer race at Daytona International Speedway. He missed the race, ran a lap the following week before giving way to a relief driver and then missed the next five races before returning at Richmond. The injured-marred season also brought an end to Waltrip's streak of 15 straight seasons with at least one Cup win. He did win the Most Popular Driver Award in 1990.

Irvan's first Cup win also marked the first victory for Morgan-McClure Motorsports. Irvan had scored his first pole at the spring Bristol race, but he had a bigger prize in his sights in the summer as he led the final 90 laps of the race for the win. A strong finish to the 1990 season, including the Bristol win and five additional top 10s in the final nine races, set the stage for a breakout 1991 season for the California native.

For the second time in his career, Earnhardt swept the season at Darlington with a win in the Southern 500. He also swept the Darlington Cup races in 1987. The victory in the Southern 500 saw Earnhardt close strong as he led the final 54 laps. It marked the seventh time a driver swept both Darlington Cup races -- it has happened 10 times in the track's history.

For almost all of his seven championships, Earnhardt was in control of the title race by late summer. The 1990 season was different, as he trailed Martin from late spring until the second-to-last race of the season. "Big E" entered Phoenix International Raceway (now ISM Raceway) 45 points behind Martin. Then, after a blistering performance where he led 262 of 312 laps, Earnhardt left the desert six points up. His third-place finish at Atlanta helped him finish 26 points up on Martin for the title.