1987 Champion Spark Plug 400
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 19 of 29 in the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1987 Champion Spark Plug 400 program cover. | |||
| Date | August 16, 1987 | ||
| Official name | 18th Annual Champion Spark Plug 400 | ||
| Location | Brooklyn, Michigan, Michigan International Speedway | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility | ||
| Course length | 2 miles (3.2 km) | ||
| Distance | 200 laps, 400 mi (643.737 km) | ||
| Scheduled distance | 200 laps, 400 mi (643.737 km) | ||
| Average speed | 138.648 miles per hour (223.132 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 72,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Ranier-Lundy Racing | ||
| Time | 42.178 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Dale Earnhardt | Blue Max Racing | |
| Laps | 63 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 9 | Bill Elliott | Melling Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ESPN | ||
| Announcers | Bob Jenkins, Larry Nuber | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
The 1987 Champion Spark Plug 400 was the 19th stock car race of the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 18th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, August 16, 1987, before an audience of 72,000 in Brooklyn, Michigan, at Michigan International Speedway, a two-mile (3.2 km) moderate-banked D-shaped speedway. The race took the scheduled 200 laps to complete.
In the final laps of the race, Melling Racing's Bill Elliott was able to hold off a late-race charges by Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, holding off the field on the final restart with eight laps left to take his 20th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his third victory of the season.[1][2] To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Dale Earnhardt and King Racing's Morgan Shepherd finished second and third, respectively.
Background
[edit | edit source]
The race was held at Michigan International Speedway, a two-mile (3.2 km) moderate-banked D-shaped speedway located in Brooklyn, Michigan. The track is used primarily for NASCAR events. It is known as a "sister track" to Texas World Speedway as MIS's oval design was a direct basis of TWS, with moderate modifications to the banking in the corners, and was used as the basis of Auto Club Speedway. The track is owned by International Speedway Corporation. Michigan International Speedway is recognized as one of motorsports' premier facilities because of its wide racing surface and high banking (by open-wheel standards; the 18-degree banking is modest by stock car standards).
Entry list
[edit | edit source]- (R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
[edit | edit source]Davey Allison, driving for Ranier-Lundy Racing, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 42.178 and an average speed of 170.705 miles per hour (274.723 km/h) in the first round.[3]
Ten drivers failed to qualify. Two drivers who failed to qualify, Jocko Maggiacomo and Donny Paul, were both involved in qualifying crashes.[4]
Full qualifying results
[edit | edit source]Race results
[edit | edit source]Standings after the race
[edit | edit source]
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). Open access icon
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). Open access icon
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). Open access icon
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). Open access icon
