1987 Oakwood Homes 500
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 26 of 29 in the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1987 Oakwood Homes 500 program cover. Artwork by NASCAR artist Sam Bass. | |||
| Date | October 11, 1987 | ||
| Official name | 28th Annual Oakwood Homes 500 | ||
| Location | Concord, North Carolina, Charlotte Motor Speedway | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.5 mi (2.41 km) | ||
| Distance | 334 laps, 501 mi (806.281 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 334 laps, 501 mi (806.281 km) | ||
| Average speed | 128.443 miles per hour (206.709 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 137,200 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Stavola Brothers Racing | ||
| Time | 31.462 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Bobby Allison | Stavola Brothers Racing | |
| Laps | 142 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 9 | Bill Elliott | Melling Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | SETN | ||
| Announcers | Eli Gold, Jerry Punch | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
The 1987 Oakwood Homes 500 was the 26th stock car race of the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 28th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, October 11, 1987, before an audience of 145,000 in Concord, North Carolina, at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a 1.5 miles (2.4 km) permanent quad-oval. The race took the scheduled 334 laps to complete.
With the assist of a fast final pit stop, Melling Racing's Bill Elliott managed to take the lead from the dominant Bobby Allison, leading the final 62 laps en route to his 21st career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his fourth victory of the season.[1][2] To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Bobby Allison and Hagan Racing's Sterling Marlin finished second and third, respectively.
Heading into the next race of the season, the 1987 AC Delco 500, Dale Earnhardt was the write-in champion for the driver's championship, only needing to start the next race to clinch the championship.[3]
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 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.
Entry list
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Wednesday, October 7, 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, October 8, 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,[4] 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.
Bobby Allison, driving for Stavola Brothers Racing, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 31.462 and an average speed of 171.636 miles per hour (276.221 km/h) in the first round.[5]
13 drivers failed to qualify.
Full qualifying results
Race results
Standings after the race
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References
- ^ Higgins, Tom (October 12, 1987). "Elliott Takes Brutal 500". The Charlotte Observer. pp. 1D, 6D. Retrieved November 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Mulhurn, Mike (October 12, 1987). "Elliott Captures 4th Win". Winston-Salem Journal. pp. 25, 28. Retrieved November 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Kelly, Dave (October 12, 1987). "Earnhardt's plans to celebrate title delayed 2 weeks". The State. pp. 2B. Retrieved November 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Race Week Calendar". The Charlotte Observer. October 6, 1987. pp. 1C. Retrieved November 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (October 8, 1987). "B. Allison Grabs Son's Thunder, 500 Pole". The Charlotte Observer. pp. 1C, 7C. Retrieved November 18, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.