The 1987 Delaware 500 was the 23rd stock car race of the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 17th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, September 20, 1987, before an audience of 51,500 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, Bud Moore Engineering's Ricky Rudd managed to dominate a majority of the race, leading 373 laps en route to his eighth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his second and final victory of the season. To fill out the top three, Ranier-Lundy Racing's Davey Allison and RahMoc Enterprises' Neil Bonnett finished second and third, respectively.

Background

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.

Entry list

(R) denotes rookie driver.

#DriverTeamMakeSponsor1Brett BodineEllington RacingChevroletBull's-Eye Barbecue Sauce3Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevroletWrangler4Rick WilsonMorgan–McClure MotorsportsOldsmobileKodak5Geoff BodineHendrick MotorsportsChevroletLevi Garrett6Rick KnoopU.S. RacingChevroletU.S. Racing7Alan KulwickiAK RacingFordZerex8Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuickMiller American9Bill ElliottMelling RacingFordCoors11Terry LabonteJunior Johnson & AssociatesChevroletBudweiser12Larry CaudillHamby RacingChevroletHamby 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 RacingPontiacKodiak28Davey Allison (R)Ranier-Lundy RacingFordTexaco, Havoline29Cale YarboroughCale Yarborough MotorsportsOldsmobileHardee's30Michael WaltripBahari RacingChevroletAll Pro Auto Parts33Harry GantMach 1 RacingChevroletSkoal Bandit35Benny ParsonsHendrick MotorsportsChevroletFolgers Decaf43Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiacSTP44Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobilePiedmont Airlines51David SimkoSimko RacingChevroletMetro 25 Car Care Center52Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiacEureka55Phil ParsonsJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobileSkoal Classic62Steve Christman (R)Winkle MotorsportsPontiacAC Spark Plug64Rodney CombsLangley RacingFordSunny King Ford67Buddy ArringtonArrington RacingFordPannill Sweatshirts70J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiacRumple Furniture71Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevroletLifebuoy72Eddie DruryDrury RacingChevroletDrury Racing75Neil BonnettRahMoc EnterprisesPontiacValvoline80Eddie BierschwaleS&H RacingChevroletS&H Racing81Mike PotterFillip RacingFordFillip Racing82Rick JeffreyJeffery RacingChevroletJeffery Racing88Buddy BakerBaker–Schiff RacingOldsmobileCrisco90Ken SchraderDonlavey RacingFordRed Baron Frozen Pizza97D. Wayne StroutStrout RacingOldsmobileStrout Racing98Mark GibsonGibson RacingPontiacGibson Racing

Qualifying Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Saturday, September 19, 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, 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.

Alan Kulwicki, driving for his own AK Racing team, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 24.687 and an average speed of in the first round.

No drivers failed to qualify.

Full qualifying results Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed17Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord24.687145.826228Davey Allison (R)Ranier-Lundy RacingFord24.749145.460311Terry LabonteJunior Johnson & AssociatesChevrolet24.804145.13844Rick WilsonMorgan–McClure MotorsportsOldsmobile24.884144.671590Ken SchraderDonlavey RacingFord24.931144.39965Geoff BodineHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet24.958144.242733Harry GantMach 1 RacingChevrolet24.963144.213821Kyle PettyWood Brothers RacingFord25.020143.88599Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord25.034143.8041026Morgan ShepherdKing RacingBuick25.039143.7761144Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobile25.067143.6151222Bobby AllisonStavola Brothers RacingBuick25.070143.5981315Ricky RuddBud Moore EngineeringFord25.102143.4151488Buddy BakerBaker–Schiff RacingOldsmobile25.130143.255151Brett BodineEllington RacingChevrolet25.185142.9421652Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiac25.264142.4951718Dale Jarrett (R)Freedlander MotorsportsChevrolet25.289142.3541835Benny ParsonsHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet25.306142.2591975Neil BonnettRahMoc EnterprisesPontiac25.338142.0792027Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiac25.352142.001Failed to lock in Round 12155Phil ParsonsJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobile25.366141.922223Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet25.372141.8892317Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet25.380141.8442464Trevor BoysLangley RacingFord25.458141.409258Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuick25.505141.1492643Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac25.589140.6852771Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet25.592140.6692881Mike PotterFillip RacingFord25.791139.5842982Rick JeffreyJeffery RacingChevrolet25.829139.3783062Steve Christman (R)Winkle MotorsportsPontiac25.841139.3133167Buddy ArringtonArrington RacingFord25.874139.1363298Mark GibsonGibson RacingPontiac25.891139.0443312Larry CaudillHamby RacingOldsmobile25.893139.0343451David SimkoSimko RacingChevrolet25.970138.6213580Eddie BierschwaleS&H RacingChevrolet26.000138.462366Rick KnoopU.S. RacingChevrolet26.235137.2213797D. Wayne StroutStrout RacingOldsmobile26.362136.5603870J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiac26.849134.0833929Cale YarboroughCale Yarborough MotorsportsOldsmobile25.210142.8004030Michael WaltripBahari RacingChevrolet25.238142.642WithdrewWD72Eddie DruryDrury RacingChevrolet - -Official starting lineup

Race results FinSt#DriverTeamMakeLapsLedStatusPtsWinnings11315Ricky RuddBud Moore EngineeringFord500373running185$54,5502228Davey Allison (R)Ranier-Lundy RacingFord50039running175$25,87531975Neil BonnettRahMoc EnterprisesPontiac5000running165$21,335499Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord5001running165$19,37551144Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobile5006running160$17,620665Geoff BodineHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet4980running150$13,17571222Bobby AllisonStavola Brothers RacingBuick4981running146$12,44081488Buddy BakerBaker–Schiff RacingOldsmobile4980running142$5,90092643Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac4960running138$8,575102317Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet4950running134$7,39011590Ken SchraderDonlavey RacingFord4950running130$7,355122027Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiac4950running127$10,90013151Brett BodineEllington RacingChevrolet4930running124$2,6501417Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord49325running126$10,735152771Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet4900running118$6,275161835Benny ParsonsHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet4890running115$11,400173062Steve Christman (R)Winkle MotorsportsPontiac4870running112$2,650184030Michael WaltripBahari RacingChevrolet4860running109$5,515193167Buddy ArringtonArrington RacingFord4790running106$5,25520366Rick KnoopU.S. RacingChevrolet4700running0$5,595213312Larry CaudillHamby RacingOldsmobile4700running0$4,725221652Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiac4680running97$4,66523821Kyle PettyWood Brothers RacingFord4030running94$8,850242982Rick JeffreyJeffery RacingChevrolet3910clutch91$1,80025733Harry GantMach 1 RacingChevrolet3810engine88$4,605263797D. Wayne StroutStrout RacingOldsmobile3810fatigue85$1,7002744Rick WilsonMorgan–McClure MotorsportsOldsmobile3560distributor82$1,650283870J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiac3350engine79$1,600292155Phil ParsonsJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobile3280running76$1,550303451David SimkoSimko RacingChevrolet3080clutch73$1,50031223Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet30418engine75$12,70032311Terry LabonteJunior Johnson & AssociatesChevrolet29537crash72$11,050332464Trevor BoysLangley RacingFord2810engine0$4,085343298Mark GibsonGibson RacingPontiac2040axle61$1,300352881Mike PotterFillip RacingFord1850exhaust58$1,200363929Cale YarboroughCale Yarborough MotorsportsOldsmobile1170engine55$1,175373580Eddie BierschwaleS&H RacingChevrolet650engine52$1,175381718Dale Jarrett (R)Freedlander MotorsportsChevrolet450engine49$3,17539258Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuick450crash46$8,150401026Morgan ShepherdKing RacingBuick200engine43$3,150WithdrewWD72Eddie DruryDrury RacingChevroletOfficial race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Dale Earnhardt 3,781 2 Bill Elliott 3,263 (-518) 3 Terry Labonte 3,091 (-690) 4 Rusty Wallace 3,069 (–712) 1 5 Ricky Rudd 3,063 (–718) 1 6 Darrell Waltrip 3,032 (–749) 7 Neil Bonnett 3,007 (–774) 8 Richard Petty 2,946 (–835) 9 Kyle Petty 2,866 (–915) 10 Ken Schrader 2,788 (–993)Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

Notes

References