| Type: | NASWINSTON |
| Date: | May 24 |
| Scheduled Km: | 965.606 |
| Distance Km: | 965.606 |
| Avg: | 131.483mph |
| Pole Team: | Melling Racing |
| Network: | Jefferson-Pilot |
| Most Driver: | Bill Elliott |
| Radio: | Motor Racing Network |
| Announcers: | Mike Hogewood, Jerry Punch |
| Most Team: | Melling Racing |
| First Driver: | Kyle Petty |
| First Team: | Wood Brothers Racing |
| Most Laps: | 186 |
| Season No: | 29 |
| Location: | Concord, North Carolina, Charlotte Motor Speedway |
| Pole Time: | 31.597 |
| Attendance: | 165,000 |
| Scheduled Mi: | 600 |
| Distance Laps: | 400 |
| Scheduled Laps: | 400 |
| Course Km: | 2.41 |
| Course Mi: | 1.5 |
| Race No: | 10 |
| Official Name: | 28th Annual Coca-Cola 600 |
| Car: | 21 |
| Race Name: | Coca-Cola 600 |
| Year: | 1987 |
| Distance Mi: | 600 |
| Pole Driver: | Bill Elliott |
The 1987 Coca-Cola 600 was the tenth stock car race of the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 28th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, May 24, 1987, before an audience of 165,000 in Concord, North Carolina, at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) permanent quad-oval. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete.
In a race of attrition that saw numerous crashes and engine failures due to high heat, Wood Brothers Racing's Kyle Petty managed to take advantage of several incidences of drivers dropping out of the race, taking the lead by lap 383 when Rusty Wallace's engine malfunctioned. On the final restart with 12 laps left, Petty was able to pull away to take his second career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his only victory of the season.[1] [2] To fill out the top three, King Racing's Morgan Shepherd and owner-driver Lake Speed finished second and third, respectively.
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 NEXTEL All-Star Challenge, as well as the UAW-GM Quality 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) with Marcus G. Smith (son of Bruton Smith) as track president.
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Wednesday, May 20, at 3:00 PM 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 Thursday, May 21, at 2:00 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 were given.
Bill Elliott, driving for Melling Racing, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 31.597 and an average speed of 170.901mph in the first round.[4]
14 drivers failed to quallify.
| Pos | Driver | Points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dale Earnhardt | 1,658 | |||||||
| 2 | Bill Elliott | 1,439 (-219) | |||||||
| 3 | Neil Bonnett | 1,418 (-240) | |||||||
| 4 | Terry Labonte | 1,403 (–255) | |||||||
| 5 | Richard Petty | 1,380 (–278) | |||||||
| 1 | 6 | Kyle Petty | 1,374 (–284) | ||||||
| 1 | 7 | Rusty Wallace | 1,355 (–303) | ||||||
| 2 | 8 | Darrell Waltrip | 1,307 (–351) | ||||||
| 1 | 9 | Ken Schrader | 1,251 (–407) | ||||||
| 1 | 10 | Ricky Rudd | 1,246 (–412) | ||||||
| Official driver's standings | |||||||||