As teams, drivers and fans entered Daytona Int’l Speedway to start the 1990 NASCAR Cup Series season, Dale Earnhardt had another chance to record an elusive Daytona 500 victory.
However, Earnhardt struck a piece of metal from a broken bell housing while leading with less than half a lap remaining. It cut the right-rear tire on his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevy, handing the victory to Derrike Cope of Spanaway, Wash.
It was Cope’s first victory in 71 starts. He won again at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway later in the year, but those were the only victories of his career.
Earnhardt captured his third Cup Series championship that season and eventually added titles in 1991, ’93 and ’94.
After securing his seventh championship on Oct. 23, 1994, at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway, the driver from Kannapolis, N.C., simply said, “It’s great to be No. 1 all the way around on race day. I drive a race car 100 percent-plus every race. And that’s what I intend to do until I retire.”
On Oct. 20, 1990, USAC open-wheel star Jeff Gordon made his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Rockingham, driving an Oldsmobile for team owner Hugh Connerty. The native of Vallejo, Calif., then drove a Ford owned by Bill Davis for two full Xfinity Series seasons before signing with Hendrick Motorsports.
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