1990 Coca-Cola 600

The 1990 Coca-Cola 600, the 31st running of the event, was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race held on May 27, 1990 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina. Contested over 400 laps on the 1.5 mile (2.4 km) speedway, it was the 10th race of the 1990 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season. Rusty Wallace of Blue Max Racing won the race.

Background
Charlotte Motor Speedway is a motorsports complex located in Concord, North Carolina, United States 13 miles from Charlotte, North Carolina. The complex features a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) quad oval track that hosts NASCAR racing including the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend and The Winston, as well as the Mello Yello 500. The speedway was built in 1959 by Bruton Smith and is considered the home track for NASCAR with many race teams located in the Charlotte area. The track is owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports Inc. (SMI).

Summary
Rusty Wallace emerged from early season mediocrity to announce his return to dominance with a shootout win over Bill Elliott. Wallace led 306 of the 400 laps for his first win of the season, resuming his final lead on lap 310 when Geoff Bodine made a green-flag pit stop. A two-lap caution beginning on lap 297 set up the duel between Wallace and Elliott, who had regained a lap he lost early in the race.

On the day of the race, 0.65 inches of precipitation were recorded around the speedway; a significant amount for the Charlotte area during the month of May.

Race statistics

 * Time of race: 4:21:32
 * Average Speed: 137.65 mph
 * Pole Speed: 173.963 mph
 * Cautions: 11 for 48 laps
 * Margin of Victory: 0.17 sec
 * Lead changes: 15
 * Percent of race run under caution: 12%
 * Average green flag run: 29.3 laps