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.
| 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 2 mi (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 | ||
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
editThe 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- (R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
editQualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Saturday, August 15, at 11:30 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 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.
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.[4]
Ten drivers failed to qualify. Two drivers who failed to qualify, Jocko Maggiacomo and Donny Paul, were both involved in qualifying crashes.[5]
Full qualifying results
editRace results
editStandings after the race
edit
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References
edit- ^ Higgins, Tom (August 17, 1987). "Petty Makes A Run, But Elliott Wins Michigan". The Charlotte Observer. pp. 1B, 4B. Retrieved November 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Brown, Clifton (August 17, 1987). "Elliott survives a chaotic 400". Detroit Free Press. pp. 1F, 6F. Retrieved November 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "NASCAR Today". The Charlotte Observer. August 14, 1987. pp. 5C. Retrieved November 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Higgins, Tom (August 16, 1987). "Davey Allison Charges To Pole At Michigan". The Charlotte Observer. pp. 1D, 10D. Retrieved November 1, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Griffis, Richard (August 16, 1987). "Fords thunder to first four spots on grid". Battle Creek Enquirer. pp. 3D. Retrieved November 4, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.