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The 1987 Talladega 500 was the 17th stock car race of the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 19th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, July 26, 1987, before an audience of 105,000 in Lincoln, Alabama at Alabama International Motor Speedway, a 2.66 miles (4.28 km) permanent triangle-shaped superspeedway. The race took the scheduled 188 laps to complete.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 17 of 29 in the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1987 Talladega 500 program cover, featuring Bobby Hillin Jr. | |||
| Date | July 26, 1987 | ||
| Official name | 19th Annual Talladega 500 | ||
| Location | Lincoln, Alabama, Alabama International Motor Speedway | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 2.66 mi (4.28 km) | ||
| Distance | 188 laps, 500.08 mi (804.8 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 188 laps, 500.08 mi (804.8 km) | ||
| Average speed | 171.293 miles per hour (275.669 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 105,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Melling Racing | ||
| Time | 46.981 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Davey Allison | Ranier-Lundy Racing | |
| Laps | 77 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 9 | Bill Elliott | Melling Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | CBS | ||
| Announcers | Ken Squier, Ned Jarrett | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
By race's end, Melling Racing's Bill Elliott managed to fend off a late-race charge by Ranier-Lundy Racing's Davey Allison in the final laps of the race to take his 19th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his second victory of the season.[1][2] To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Davey Allison and Richard Childress Racing's Dale Earnhardt finished second and third, respectively.
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Talladega Superspeedway, originally known as Alabama International Motor Superspeedway (AIMS), is a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama. It is located on the former Anniston Air Force Base in the small city of Lincoln. The track is a tri-oval and was constructed in the 1960s by the International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by the France family. Talladega is most known for its steep banking and the unique location of the start/finish line that's located just past the exit to pit road. The track currently hosts the NASCAR series such as the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and the Camping World Truck Series. Talladega is the longest NASCAR oval, a 2.66-mile-long (4.28 km) tri-oval like the Daytona International Speedway, which also is a 2.5-mile-long (4.0 km) tri-oval.
Entry list
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
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Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, July 23, 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, July 24, 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,[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 for Melling Racing, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 46.981 and an average speed of 203.827 miles per hour (328.028 km/h) in the first round.[4]
Connie Saylor was the only driver to fail to qualify.
Full qualifying results
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| Fin | St | # | Driver | Team | Make | Laps | Led | Status | Pts | Winnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 9 | Bill Elliott | Melling Racing | Ford | 188 | 72 | running | 180 | $70,920 |
| 2 | 3 | 28 | Davey Allison (R) | Ranier-Lundy Racing | Ford | 188 | 77 | running | 180 | $39,115 |
| 3 | 2 | 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 188 | 8 | running | 170 | $35,050 |
| 4 | 4 | 17 | Darrell Waltrip | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 188 | 0 | running | 160 | $19,120 |
| 5 | 22 | 29 | Cale Yarborough | Cale Yarborough Motorsports | Oldsmobile | 188 | 4 | running | 160 | $13,465 |
| 6 | 5 | 11 | Terry Labonte | Junior Johnson & Associates | Chevrolet | 188 | 22 | running | 155 | $19,445 |
| 7 | 14 | 83 | Lake Speed | Speed Racing | Oldsmobile | 188 | 0 | running | 146 | $8,845 |
| 8 | 9 | 27 | Rusty Wallace | Blue Max Racing | Pontiac | 188 | 1 | running | 147 | $14,645 |
| 9 | 8 | 21 | Kyle Petty | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 188 | 1 | running | 143 | $12,695 |
| 10 | 12 | 88 | Buddy Baker | Baker–Schiff Racing | Oldsmobile | 188 | 0 | running | 134 | $8,720 |
| 11 | 16 | 25 | Tim Richmond | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 188 | 0 | running | 130 | $5,065 |
| 12 | 7 | 22 | Bobby Allison | Stavola Brothers Racing | Buick | 188 | 0 | running | 127 | $11,795 |
| 13 | 11 | 5 | Geoff Bodine | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 187 | 0 | running | 124 | $11,575 |
| 14 | 10 | 44 | Sterling Marlin | Hagan Racing | Oldsmobile | 187 | 0 | running | 121 | $9,900 |
| 15 | 27 | 15 | Ricky Rudd | Bud Moore Engineering | Ford | 187 | 0 | running | 118 | $12,975 |
| 16 | 32 | 4 | Rick Wilson | Morgan–McClure Motorsports | Oldsmobile | 187 | 0 | running | 115 | $4,115 |
| 17 | 21 | 30 | Michael Waltrip | Bahari Racing | Chevrolet | 186 | 0 | running | 112 | $8,930 |
| 18 | 26 | 90 | Ken Schrader | Donlavey Racing | Ford | 185 | 0 | running | 109 | $7,910 |
| 19 | 31 | 64 | Rodney Combs | Langley Racing | Ford | 184 | 0 | running | 106 | $7,690 |
| 20 | 34 | 67 | Chet Fillip | Arrington Racing | Ford | 184 | 0 | running | 103 | $7,965 |
| 21 | 37 | 18 | Dale Jarrett (R) | Freedlander Motorsports | Chevrolet | 183 | 0 | running | 100 | $7,210 |
| 22 | 25 | 71 | Dave Marcis | Marcis Auto Racing | Chevrolet | 183 | 2 | running | 102 | $6,865 |
| 23 | 13 | 7 | Alan Kulwicki | AK Racing | Ford | 180 | 0 | running | 94 | $7,445 |
| 24 | 38 | 0 | Delma Cowart | H. L. Waters Racing | Chevrolet | 180 | 0 | running | 0 | $3,130 |
| 25 | 35 | 70 | J. D. McDuffie | McDuffie Racing | Pontiac | 177 | 0 | running | 88 | $3,120 |
| 26 | 39 | 62 | Steve Christman (R) | Winkle Motorsports | Pontiac | 176 | 0 | running | 85 | $2,955 |
| 27 | 24 | 01 | Dave Pletcher Sr. | Weaver Racing | Ford | 145 | 0 | crash | 82 | $2,895 |
| 28 | 40 | 48 | Jerry Holden | Hylton Motorsports | Chevrolet | 133 | 0 | engine | 79 | $2,850 |
| 29 | 15 | 55 | Phil Parsons | Jackson Bros. Motorsports | Oldsmobile | 132 | 0 | engine | 76 | $2,765 |
| 30 | 19 | 35 | Benny Parsons | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 131 | 0 | engine | 73 | $11,905 |
| 31 | 29 | 33 | Harry Gant | Mach 1 Racing | Chevrolet | 124 | 0 | engine | 70 | $5,690 |
| 32 | 17 | 75 | Neil Bonnett | RahMoc Enterprises | Pontiac | 116 | 0 | running | 67 | $6,110 |
| 33 | 30 | 82 | Mark Stahl | Stahl Racing | Ford | 115 | 0 | engine | 64 | $2,525 |
| 34 | 33 | 12 | Jeff Swindell | Hamby Racing | Chevrolet | 102 | 0 | fatigue | 61 | $5,230 |
| 35 | 18 | 14 | A. J. Foyt | A. J. Foyt Racing | Oldsmobile | 91 | 1 | handling | 63 | $2,505 |
| 36 | 36 | 52 | Jimmy Means | Jimmy Means Racing | Chevrolet | 60 | 0 | engine | 55 | $5,120 |
| 37 | 28 | 43 | Richard Petty | Petty Enterprises | Pontiac | 47 | 0 | engine | 52 | $5,040 |
| 38 | 23 | 1 | Brett Bodine | Ellington Racing | Chevrolet | 32 | 0 | crash | 49 | $2,240 |
| 39 | 6 | 26 | Morgan Shepherd | King Racing | Buick | 10 | 0 | engine | 46 | $4,180 |
| 40 | 20 | 8 | Bobby Hillin Jr. | Stavola Brothers Racing | Buick | 2 | 0 | engine | 43 | $9,115 |
| Failed to qualify | ||||||||||
| 41 | 6 | Connie Saylor | U.S. Racing | Chevrolet | ||||||
| Official race results | ||||||||||
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