1987 Valleydale Meats 500

Race details
Race 7 of 29 in the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1987 Valleydale Meats 500 program cover, featuring Morgan Shepherd.
Date	April 12, 1987
Official name	27th Annual Valleydale Meats 500
Location	Bristol, Tennessee, Bristol International Raceway
Course	Permanent racing facility 0.533 mi (0.858 km)
Distance	500 laps, 266.5 mi (428.89 km)
Scheduled Distance	500 laps, 266.5 mi (428.89 km)
Average speed	75.621 miles per hour (121.700 km/h)
Attendance	34,000
Pole position
Driver	Harry Gant	Mach 1 Racing
Time	16.588
Most laps led
Driver	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing
Laps	149
Winner
No. 3	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins, Larry Nuber
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1987 Valleydale Meats 500 was the seventh stock car race of the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 27th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, April 12, 1987, before an audience of 34,000 in Bristol, Tennessee, at Bristol International Raceway, a 0.533 miles (0.858 km) permanent oval-shaped racetrack.

By race's end, Richard Childress Racing's Dale Earnhardt had managed to dominate the final 100 laps of the race, coming back from a lap down early to take his 25th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his fifth victory of the season, and his third straight victory.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, owner-driver Richard Petty and Bud Moore Engineering's Ricky Rudd finished second and third, respectively.

Background

The layout of Bristol International Raceway, the venue where the race was held.

The Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Despite its short length, Bristol is among the most popular tracks on the NASCAR schedule because of its distinct features, which include extraordinarily steep banking, an all concrete surface, two pit roads, and stadium-like seating. It has also been named one of the loudest NASCAR tracks.

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, April 8, at 4:45 pm EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 15 drivers in the round would be 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, April 9, at 12:00 pm EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 16-30 would be 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.

Harry Gant, driving for Mach 1 Racing, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 16.588 and an average speed of 115.674 miles per hour (186.159 km/h) in the first round.^[4]

Tony Spanos was the only driver to fail to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Dale Earnhardt 1,205 2 Bill Elliott 1,078 (-127) 1 3 Richard Petty 1,008 (-197) 1 4 Neil Bonnett 1,000 (–205) 5 Ricky Rudd 970 (–235) 1 6 Terry Labonte 923 (–282) 1 7 Darrell Waltrip 917 (–288) 3 8 Kyle Petty 902 (–303) 1 9 Rusty Wallace 886 (–319) 1 10 Ken Schrader 882 (–323) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References