1987 Goody's 500

The 1987 Goody's 500 was the 24th stock car race of the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 39th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, September 27, 1987, before an audience of 41,000 in Martinsville, Virginia at Martinsville Speedway, a permanent oval-shaped short track. The race took the scheduled 500 laps to complete.

Heading into the final lap of the race, the three cars of Hendrick Motorsports' Darrell Waltrip, Richard Childress Racing's Dale Earnhardt, and Junior Johnson & Associates' Terry Labonte engaged in a battle for the victory. Heading into the final two turns of the race, Waltrip bumped into the bumper of Labonte's car, sending Labonte out of control. Labonte hit Earnhardt's car, letting Waltrip pass the two of them to take his 71st career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his only victory of the season. To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Earnhardt and Labonte finished second and third, respectively.

Background

Martinsville Speedway is a NASCAR-owned stock car racing track located in Henry County, in Ridgeway, Virginia, just to the south of Martinsville. At 0.526 miles (0.847 km) in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved oval tracks in NASCAR, being built in 1947 by H. Clay Earles. It is also the only remaining race track that has been on the NASCAR circuit from its beginning in 1948.

Entry list

(R) denotes rookie driver.

#DriverTeamMakeSponsor3Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevroletWrangler5Geoff BodineHendrick MotorsportsChevroletLevi Garrett6Ernie IrvanU.S. RacingChevroletU.S. Racing7Alan KulwickiAK RacingFordZerex8Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuickMiller American9Bill ElliottMelling RacingFordCoors11Terry LabonteJunior Johnson & AssociatesChevroletBudweiser12Slick JohnsonHamby RacingOldsmobileHamby Racing15Ricky RuddBud Moore EngineeringFordMotorcraft Quality Parts17Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevroletTide18Dale Jarrett (R)Freedlander MotorsportsChevroletFreedlander Financial21Kyle PettyWood Brothers RacingFordCitgo22Bobby AllisonStavola Brothers RacingBuickMiller American26Morgan ShepherdKing RacingBuickQuaker State27Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiacKodiak30Michael WaltripBahari RacingChevroletAll Pro Auto Parts33Harry GantMach 1 RacingChevroletSkoal Bandit35Benny ParsonsHendrick MotorsportsChevroletFolgers Decaf43Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiacSTP44Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobilePiedmont Airlines50Greg SacksDingman Brothers RacingPontiacValvoline52Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiacEureka55Phil ParsonsJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobileSkoal Classic62Steve Christman (R)Winkle MotorsportsPontiacAC Spark Plug64Trevor BoysLangley RacingFordSunny King Ford67Buddy ArringtonArrington RacingFordPannill Sweatshirts70J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiacRumple Furniture71Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevroletLifebuoy75Neil BonnettRahMoc EnterprisesPontiacValvoline88Bryan BakerBaker–Schiff RacingOldsmobileCrisco90Ken SchraderDonlavey RacingFordRed Baron Frozen Pizza

Qualifying Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, September 24, at 2:00 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 Friday, September 25, at 1:30 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver had one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-30 were decided on time, 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.

Geoff Bodine, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 20.759 and an average speed of in the first round.

No drivers failed to qualify.

Full qualifying results Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed15Geoff BodineHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet20.75991.218226Morgan ShepherdKing RacingBuick20.83790.877311Terry LabonteJunior Johnson & AssociatesChevrolet20.85490.803475Neil BonnettRahMoc EnterprisesPontiac20.86090.77758Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuick20.88090.690621Kyle PettyWood Brothers RacingFord20.88590.668733Harry GantMach 1 RacingChevrolet20.89290.63883Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet20.90290.594971Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet20.91790.5291018Dale Jarrett (R)Freedlander MotorsportsChevrolet20.92990.4771190Ken SchraderDonlavey RacingFord20.93890.4381227Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiac20.94290.421139Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord20.94590.4081417Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet20.95490.3691515Ricky RuddBud Moore EngineeringFord20.96190.3391643Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac20.99190.2101722Bobby AllisonStavola Brothers RacingBuick21.02490.0681835Benny ParsonsHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet21.06889.8801950Greg SacksDingman Brothers RacingPontiac21.07589.8512030Michael WaltripBahari RacingChevrolet21.07689.846Failed to lock in Round 12155Phil ParsonsJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobile21.09989.748227Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord21.12189.6552344Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobile21.13789.587246Ernie IrvanU.S. RacingChevrolet21.19789.3332567Buddy ArringtonArrington RacingFord21.21589.2582664Curtis MarkhamLangley RacingFord21.22589.2162770J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiac21.29788.9142862Steve Christman (R)Winkle MotorsportsPontiac21.36288.6432912Slick JohnsonHamby RacingOldsmobile21.40488.4693052Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiac21.41688.420Provisional3188Buddy BakerBaker–Schiff RacingOldsmobile - -Official first round qualifying resultsOfficial starting lineup

Race results FinSt#DriverTeamMakeLapsLedStatusPtsWinnings11417Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet500138running180$43,830283Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet500170running180$29,8753311Terry LabonteJunior Johnson & AssociatesChevrolet500119running170$23,9504475Neil BonnettRahMoc EnterprisesPontiac4980running160$13,0055226Morgan ShepherdKing RacingBuick4970running155$12,3356227Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord4970running150$10,50072344Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobile4960running146$7,28081722Bobby AllisonStavola Brothers RacingBuick4951running147$8,5509621Kyle PettyWood Brothers RacingFord4920running138$9,000101018Dale Jarrett (R)Freedlander MotorsportsChevrolet4920running134$8,34511139Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord4910running130$9,770121190Ken SchraderDonlavey RacingFord4910running127$5,230131643Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac4840running124$4,72014733Harry GantMach 1 RacingChevrolet4780oil pressure121$5,21015246Ernie IrvanU.S. RacingChevrolet4710running0$4,600162155Phil ParsonsJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobile4690running115$1,650172770J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiac4580running112$1,580182030Michael WaltripBahari RacingChevrolet4430running109$3,745192862Steve Christman (R)Winkle MotorsportsPontiac4260running106$1,5252015Geoff BodineHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet39271running108$13,500211515Ricky RuddBud Moore EngineeringFord3871overheating105$8,8002258Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuick3680crash97$8,055231835Benny ParsonsHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet2420differential94$9,220241950Greg SacksDingman Brothers RacingPontiac2380differential91$1,295252912Slick JohnsonHamby RacingOldsmobile2190engine0$3,555262664Curtis MarkhamLangley RacingFord2030overheating0$3,42027971Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet1870engine82$3,885281227Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiac1620engine79$8,200292567Buddy ArringtonArrington RacingFord870overheating76$2,675303052Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiac700crash73$2,660313188Buddy BakerBaker–Schiff RacingOldsmobile390brakes70$1,160Official race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Dale Earnhardt 3,961 2 Bill Elliott 3,393 (-568) 3 Terry Labonte 3,261 (-700) 2 4 Darrell Waltrip 3,212 (–749) 5 Ricky Rudd 3,168 (–793) 1 6 Neil Bonnett 3,167 (–794) 3 7 Rusty Wallace 3,148 (–813) 8 Richard Petty 3,070 (–891) 9 Kyle Petty 3,004 (–957) 10 Ken Schrader 2,915 (–1,046)Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

Notes

References