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.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 23 of 29 in the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1987 Delaware 500 program cover. | |||
| Date | September 20, 1987 | ||
| Official name | 17th Annual Delaware 500 | ||
| Location | Dover, Delaware, Dover Downs International Speedway | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1 mi (1.6 km) | ||
| Distance | 500 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 500 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km) | ||
| Average speed | 124.706 miles per hour (200.695 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 51,500 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | AK Racing | ||
| Time | 24.687 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Ricky Rudd | Bud Moore Engineering | |
| Laps | 373 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 15 | Ricky Rudd | Bud Moore Engineering | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ESPN | ||
| Announcers | Bob Jenkins, Larry Nuber | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
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.[1][2] To fill out the top three, Ranier-Lundy Racing's Davey Allison and RahMoc Enterprises' Neil Bonnett finished second and third, respectively.
Background
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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
edit- (R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
editQualifying 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,[4] 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 145.826 miles per hour (234.684 km/h) in the first round.[5]
No drivers failed to qualify.
Full qualifying results
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Race results
editStandings after the race
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Notes
editReferences
edit- ^ Higgins, Tom (September 21, 1987). "No Limp In Rudd's Win, But Earnhardt Streaks End". The Charlotte Observer. pp. 1B, 3B. Archived from the original on November 12, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Bryson, Gene (September 21, 1987). "Rudd breezes in Delaware 500". The News Journal. pp. C1, C2. Archived from the original on November 12, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Humphrey, Theresa (September 5, 1987). "Kulwicki wins Delaware 500 pole". Messenger-Inquirer. Associated Press. pp. 4B. Archived from the original on November 12, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "NASCAR Today". The Charlotte Observer. September 19, 1987. pp. 7B. Archived from the original on November 12, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (September 20, 1987). "Surprising Kulwicki Rolls To Another Pole". The Charlotte Observer. pp. 5D. Archived from the original on November 12, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
