| Type: | NASWINSTON |
| Scheduled Km: | 804.672 |
| Official Name: | 19th Annual Budweiser 500 |
| Caption: | The 1987 Budweiser 500 program cover. |
| Radio: | Motor Racing Network |
| Network: | ESPN |
| First Team: | Ranier-Lundy Racing |
| Most Team: | Ranier-Lundy Racing |
| First Driver: | Davey Allison |
| Most Driver: | Davey Allison |
| Pole Team: | Melling Racing |
| Pole Driver: | Bill Elliott |
| Most Laps: | 212 |
| Car: | 28 |
| Distance Km: | 804.672 |
| Location: | Dover, Delaware, Dover Downs International Speedway |
| Scheduled Laps: | 500 |
| Scheduled Mi: | 500 |
| Distance Laps: | 500 |
| Avg: | 118.726mph |
| Date: | May 31 |
| Pole Time: | 24.818 |
| Course Km: | 1.6 |
| Course Mi: | 1 |
| Race Name: | Budweiser 500 |
| Year: | 1987 |
| Season No: | 29 |
| Race No: | 11 |
| Distance Mi: | 500 |
| Announcers: | Larry Nuber, Jerry Punch |
| Attendance: | 56,000 |
The 1987 Budweiser 500 was the 11th stock car race of the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 19th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, May 31, 1987, before an audience of 56,000 in Dover, Delaware at Dover Downs International Speedway, a 1-mile (1.6 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete.
By race's end, Ranier-Lundy Racing's Davey Allison had managed to dominate the late stages of the race, leading 216 laps to take his second career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his second and final victory of the season. The victory also marked the first time a driver who had declared for NASCAR Rookie of the Year honors had won multiple races in the same season.[1] [2] To fill out the top three, Melling Racing's Bill Elliott and Junior Johnson & Associates' Terry Labonte finished second and third, respectively.
Dover Downs International Speedway is an oval race track in Dover, Delaware, United States that has held at least two NASCAR races since it opened in 1969. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hosted USAC and the NTT IndyCar Series. The track features one layout, a 1-mile (1.6 km) concrete oval, with 24° banking in the turns and 9° banking on the straights. The speedway is owned and operated by Dover Motorsports.
The track, nicknamed "The Monster Mile", was built in 1969 by Melvin Joseph of Melvin L. Joseph Construction Company, Inc., with an asphalt surface, but was replaced with concrete in 1995. Six years later in 2001, the track's capacity moved to 135,000 seats, making the track have the largest capacity of sports venue in the mid-Atlantic. In 2002, the name changed to Dover International Speedway from Dover Downs International Speedway after Dover Downs Gaming and Entertainment split, making Dover Motorsports. From 2007 to 2009, the speedway worked on an improvement project called "The Monster Makeover", which expanded facilities at the track and beautified the track. After the 2014 season, the track's capacity was reduced to 95,500 seats.
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Saturday, May 30, at 10:00 AM EST. Each driver had one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 20 drivers in the round were guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Saturday, at 3:00 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver had one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-40 were decided on time,[3] and depending on who needed it, a select amount of positions were given to cars who had not otherwise qualified but were high enough in owner's points; up to two provisionals were given.
Bill Elliott, driving for Melling Racing, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 24.818 and an average speed of 145.056mph in the first round.[4]
No drivers failed to qualify.
| Fin | St | Driver | Team | Make | Laps | Led | Status | Pts | Winnings | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 28 | Davey Allison | Ranier-Lundy Racing | Ford | 500 | 212 | running | 185 | $46,600 | |
| 2 | 1 | 9 | Bill Elliott | Melling Racing | Ford | 500 | 61 | running | 175 | $35,575 | |
| 3 | 13 | 11 | Terry Labonte | Junior Johnson & Associates | Chevrolet | 499 | 1 | running | 165 | $25,575 | |
| 4 | 10 | 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 498 | 15 | running | 165 | $20,775 | |
| 5 | 9 | 35 | Benny Parsons | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 498 | 0 | running | 155 | $18,025 | |
| 6 | 3 | 90 | Ken Schrader | Donlavey Racing | Ford | 498 | 38 | running | 155 | $12,880 | |
| 7 | 8 | 17 | Darrell Waltrip | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 496 | 0 | running | 151 | $7,895 | |
| 8 | 25 | 71 | Dave Marcis | Marcis Auto Racing | Chevrolet | 496 | 25 | running | 147 | $11,575 | |
| 9 | 12 | 75 | Neil Bonnett | RahMoc Enterprises | Pontiac | 494 | 0 | running | 138 | $8,465 | |
| 10 | 16 | 44 | Sterling Marlin | Hagan Racing | Oldsmobile | 494 | 0 | running | 134 | $9,280 | |
| 11 | 22 | 88 | Buddy Baker | Baker–Schiff Racing | Oldsmobile | 492 | 0 | running | 130 | $3,400 | |
| 12 | 11 | 15 | Ricky Rudd | Bud Moore Engineering | Ford | 490 | 1 | running | 132 | $11,300 | |
| 13 | 38 | 52 | Jimmy Means | Jimmy Means Racing | Pontiac | 487 | 0 | running | 124 | $6,485 | |
| 14 | 18 | 1 | Brett Bodine | Ellington Racing | Chevrolet | 486 | 0 | running | 121 | $2,400 | |
| 15 | 17 | 7 | Alan Kulwicki | AK Racing | Ford | 485 | 0 | crash | 118 | $7,275 | |
| 16 | 31 | 12 | Larry Pollard | Hamby Racing | Chevrolet | 483 | 0 | running | 0 | $5,615 | |
| 17 | 19 | 27 | Rusty Wallace | Blue Max Racing | Pontiac | 481 | 0 | running | 112 | $10,150 | |
| 18 | 28 | 67 | Buddy Arrington | Arrington Racing | Ford | 479 | 0 | running | 109 | $5,305 | |
| 19 | 37 | 04 | Charlie Rudolph | Rudolph Racing | Chevrolet | 462 | 0 | running | 106 | $2,050 | |
| 20 | 29 | 64 | Rodney Combs | Langley Racing | Ford | 456 | 0 | engine | 103 | $5,595 | |
| 21 | 21 | 30 | Michael Waltrip | Bahari Racing | Chevrolet | 415 | 0 | engine | 100 | $4,725 | |
| 22 | 26 | 55 | Phil Parsons | Jackson Bros. Motorsports | Oldsmobile | 389 | 0 | crash | 97 | $2,400 | |
| 23 | 39 | 70 | J. D. McDuffie | McDuffie Racing | Pontiac | 373 | 0 | engine | 94 | $1,850 | |
| 24 | 14 | 21 | Kyle Petty | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 370 | 0 | running | 91 | $8,800 | |
| 25 | 4 | 22 | Bobby Allison | Stavola Brothers Racing | Buick | 362 | 147 | engine | 93 | $10,600 | |
| 26 | 20 | 8 | Bobby Hillin Jr. | Stavola Brothers Racing | Buick | 359 | 0 | engine | 85 | $8,700 | |
| 27 | 27 | 80 | Gary Fedewa | Burke Racing | Chevrolet | 355 | 0 | engine | 82 | $1,650 | |
| 28 | 7 | 5 | Geoff Bodine | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 316 | 0 | engine | 79 | $8,600 | |
| 29 | 6 | 4 | Rick Wilson | Morgan–McClure Motorsports | Oldsmobile | 289 | 0 | engine | 76 | $1,540 | |
| 30 | 5 | 33 | Harry Gant | Mach 1 Racing | Chevrolet | 196 | 0 | engine | 73 | $4,275 | |
| 31 | 30 | 58 | Jerry Bowman | Jerry Bowman Racing | Ford | 161 | 0 | electrical | 70 | $1,450 | |
| 32 | 15 | 26 | Morgan Shepherd | King Racing | Buick | 135 | 0 | crash | 67 | $4,155 | |
| 33 | 36 | 81 | Mike Potter | Fillip Racing | Ford | 132 | 0 | crash | 64 | $1,350 | |
| 34 | 34 | 6 | D. K. Ulrich | U.S. Racing | Chevrolet | 91 | 0 | crash | 61 | $4,035 | |
| 35 | 23 | 18 | Dale Jarrett | Freedlander Motorsports | Chevrolet | 84 | 0 | transmission | 58 | $3,200 | |
| 36 | 24 | 43 | Richard Petty | Petty Enterprises | Pontiac | 69 | 0 | crash | 55 | $3,175 | |
| 37 | 35 | 62 | Steve Christman | Winkle Motorsports | Pontiac | 59 | 0 | engine | 52 | $1,175 | |
| 38 | 33 | 37 | Curtis Markham | Beahr Racing | Ford | 29 | 0 | crash | 0 | $1,175 | |
| 39 | 40 | 31 | Ron Shephard | Ron Shephard Racing | Chevrolet | 22 | 0 | engine | 46 | $1,150 | |
| 40 | 32 | 85 | Jimmy Horton | S&H Racing | Ford | 0 | 0 | did not start | 0 | $0 | |
| Official race results | |||||||||||
| Pos | Driver | Points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dale Earnhardt | 1,823 | |||||||
| 2 | Bill Elliott | 1,614 (-209) | |||||||
| 1 | 3 | Terry Labonte | 1,568 (-255) | ||||||
| 1 | 4 | Neil Bonnett | 1,556 (–267) | ||||||
| 2 | 5 | Rusty Wallace | 1,467 (–356) | ||||||
| 6 | Kyle Petty | 1,465 (–358) | |||||||
| 1 | 7 | Darrell Waltrip | 1,458 (–365) | ||||||
| 3 | 8 | Richard Petty | 1,435 (–388) | ||||||
| 9 | Ken Schrader | 1,406 (–417) | |||||||
| 10 | Ricky Rudd | 1,378 (–445) | |||||||
| Official driver's standings | |||||||||