Third race of the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
Motor car race
The 1987 Miller High Life 400 was the third
stock car race of the
1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 33rd iteration of the
event . Originally scheduled to be the second race of the season, the race was postponed from its scheduled date of February 22, 1987 to March 8 due to winter storms that affected the Richmond area and scheduling conflicts.
[1] The race was held before an audience of 30,000 in
Richmond, Virginia , at
Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway , a 0.542 miles (0.872 km) D-shaped oval. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete.
After recovering from a practice crash early in the race's weekend and an early spin during the ninth lap of the race itself,
Richard Childress Racing 's
Dale Earnhardt was able to mount a comeback, dominating a majority of the race to take his 22nd career
NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his second victory of the season.
[2]
[3] To fill out the top three,
Hendrick Motorsports '
Geoff Bodine and
Blue Max Racing 's
Rusty Wallace finished second and third, respectively.
Background
Richmond International Raceway (RIR) is a 3/4-mile (1.2 km), D -shaped, asphalt race track located just outside
Richmond, Virginia in
Henrico County . It hosts the
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and
Xfinity Series . Known as "America's premier short track", it formerly hosted a NASCAR
Camping World Truck Series race, an
IndyCar Series race, and two
USAC sprint car races.
Entry list
(R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, March 6, at 3:00 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 Saturday, March 7, at 10:45 AM
EST . As with the first round, each driver had one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-30 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 in the previous season; up to two were given.
Alan Kulwicki , driving for his own
AK Racing team, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 20.506 and an average speed of 95.153 miles per hour (153.134 km/h) in the first round.
[5]
Five drivers failed to qualify.
Full qualifying results
Race results
Fin
St
#
Driver
Team
Make
Laps
Led
Status
Pts
Winnings
1
3
3
Dale Earnhardt
Richard Childress Racing
Chevrolet
400
235
running
185
$49,150
2
4
5
Geoff Bodine
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet
400
0
running
170
$24,010
3
12
27
Rusty Wallace
Blue Max Racing
Pontiac
400
0
running
165
$18,225
4
11
9
Bill Elliott
Melling Racing
Ford
400
9
running
165
$14,285
5
9
11
Terry Labonte
Junior Johnson & Associates
Chevrolet
400
1
running
160
$13,590
6
1
7
Alan Kulwicki
AK Racing
Ford
400
65
running
155
$15,370
7
18
21
Kyle Petty
Wood Brothers Racing
Ford
399
0
running
146
$6,870
8
19
71
Dave Marcis
Marcis Auto Racing
Chevrolet
399
0
running
142
$6,360
9
13
22
Bobby Allison
Stavola Brothers Racing
Buick
399
16
running
143
$8,470
10
7
35
Benny Parsons
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet
398
0
running
134
$11,700
11
27
8
Bobby Hillin Jr.
Stavola Brothers Racing
Buick
396
0
running
130
$7,845
12
14
30
Michael Waltrip
Bahari Racing
Chevrolet
396
0
running
127
$5,945
13
16
90
Ken Schrader
Donlavey Racing
Ford
395
0
crash
124
$5,035
14
23
52
Jimmy Means
Jimmy Means Racing
Pontiac
394
0
running
121
$4,845
15
22
55
Phil Parsons
Jackson Bros. Motorsports
Oldsmobile
391
0
running
118
$2,145
16
31
70
J. D. McDuffie
McDuffie Racing
Pontiac
389
0
running
115
$1,700
17
26
81
Buddy Arrington
Fillip Racing
Ford
387
0
running
112
$1,625
18
25
67
Eddie Bierschwale
Arrington Racing
Ford
381
0
running
109
$4,410
19
29
12
Slick Johnson
Hamby Racing
Oldsmobile
379
0
running
106
$4,260
20
6
17
Darrell Waltrip
Hendrick Motorsports
Chevrolet
351
23
rear end
108
$1,885
21
5
44
Sterling Marlin
Hagan Racing
Oldsmobile
351
1
running
105
$4,060
22
24
75
Neil Bonnett
RahMoc Enterprises
Pontiac
321
0
crash
97
$3,805
23
15
43
Richard Petty
Petty Enterprises
Pontiac
317
0
running
94
$3,480
24
28
64
Jerry Cranmer
Langley Racing
Ford
312
0
crash
91
$3,435
25
2
33
Harry Gant
Mach 1 Racing
Chevrolet
265
50
transmission
93
$3,615
26
21
28
Davey Allison (R)
Ranier-Lundy Racing
Ford
206
0
crash
0
$1,685
27
17
18
Tommy Ellis
Freedlander Motorsports
Chevrolet
161
0
crash
82
$3,310
28
8
15
Ricky Rudd
Bud Moore Engineering
Ford
143
0
crash
79
$8,215
29
20
62
Steve Christman (R)
Winkle Motorsports
Pontiac
116
0
rear end
76
$1,080
30
32
6
D. K. Ulrich
U.S. Racing
Chevrolet
105
0
oil leak
73
$2,545
31
10
26
Morgan Shepherd
King Racing
Buick
79
0
crash
70
$2,545
32
30
74
Bobby Wawak
Wawak Racing
Chevrolet
62
0
overheating
67
$1,045
Failed to qualify
33
04
Clark James
James Racing
Pontiac
34
48
Tony Spanos
Hylton Motorsports
Chevrolet
35
72
Eddie Drury
Drury Racing
Chevrolet
36
34
Ron Shephard
AAG Racing
Oldsmobile
37
02
Bill Hollar
Hollar Racing Enterprises
Pontiac
Official race results
Standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings
Note : Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.
References
^ Branham, Russell (February 22, 1987).
"Wallace welcomed cancellation of Winston Cup's Miller 400" .
Florence Morning News . pp. 2B. Retrieved September 22, 2023 – via
Newspapers.com .
^ Higgins, Tom (March 9, 1987).
"Earnhardt, Bent Car Wheel To Victory" .
The Charlotte Observer . pp. 1C,
3C . Retrieved September 22, 2023 – via
Newspapers.com .
^ Pearson, Herald (March 9, 1987).
"Earnhardt dominates field with well-repaired Chevrolet" .
Richmond Times-Dispatch . pp. C1,
C7 . Retrieved September 22, 2023 – via
Newspapers.com .
^
"NASCAR Today" .
The Charlotte Observer . March 8, 1987. pp. 4B. Retrieved September 22, 2023 – via
Newspapers.com .
^ Higgins, Tom (March 7, 1987).
"Winning Pole At Richmond Makes Kulwicki's Day" .
The Charlotte Observer . pp. 3C. Retrieved September 22, 2023 – via
Newspapers.com .
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