| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 11 of 29 in the1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1987 Budweiser 500 program cover. | |||
| Date | May 31, 1987 | ||
| Official name | 19th Annual Budweiser 500 | ||
| Location | Dover, Delaware,Dover Downs International Speedway | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 1 miles (1.6 km) | ||
| Distance | 500 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km) | ||
| Scheduled distance | 500 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km) | ||
| Average speed | 118.726 miles per hour (191.071 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 56,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Melling Racing | ||
| Time | 24.818 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Davey Allison | Ranier-Lundy Racing | |
| Laps | 212 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 28 | Davey Allison | Ranier-Lundy Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ESPN | ||
| Announcers | Larry Nuber,Jerry Punch | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
The1987 Budweiser 500 was the 11thstock car race of the1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 19th iteration of theevent. The race was held on Sunday, May 31, 1987, before an audience of 56,000 inDover, Delaware atDover 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,Ranier-Lundy Racing'sDavey Allison had managed to dominate the late stages of the race, leading 216 laps to take his second careerNASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his second and final victory of the season. The victory also marked the first time a driver who had declared forNASCAR Rookie of the Year honors had won multiple races in the same season.[1][2] To fill out the top three,Melling Racing'sBill Elliott andJunior Johnson & Associates'Terry Labonte finished second and third, respectively.
Dover Downs International Speedway is an ovalrace track inDover, Delaware, United States that has held at least twoNASCAR races since it opened in 1969. In addition to NASCAR, the track also hostedUSAC and theNTT IndyCar Series. The track features one layout, a 1-mile (1.6 km) concreteoval, with 24° banking in the turns and 9° banking on the straights. The speedway is owned and operated byDover 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 afterDover 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.
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Saturday, May 30, at 10:00 AMEST. 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 PMEST. 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 provisionals were given.
Bill Elliott, driving forMelling Racing, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 24.818 and an average speed of 145.056 miles per hour (233.445 km/h) in the first round.[4]
No drivers failed to qualify.
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| Previous race: 1987 Coca-Cola 600 | NASCAR Winston Cup Series 1987 season | Next race: 1987 Miller High Life 500 |
