The 1987 TranSouth 500 was the fifth stock car race of the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 31st iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, March 29, 1987, before an audience of 60,000 in Darlington, South Carolina, at Darlington Raceway, a 1.366 miles (2.198 km) permanent egg-shaped oval racetrack. The race took the scheduled 367 laps to complete.
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 5 of 29 in the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series | |||
 The 1987 TranSouth 500 program cover, featuring Dale Earnhardt. | |||
| Date | March 29, 1987 | ||
| Official name | 31st Annual TranSouth 500 | ||
| Location | Darlington, South Carolina, Darlington Raceway | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 1.366 mi (2.198 km) | ||
| Distance | 367 laps, 501.322 mi (806.799 km) | ||
| Scheduled Distance | 367 laps, 501.322 mi (806.799 km) | ||
| Average speed | 122.54 miles per hour (197.21 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 60,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Donlavey Racing | ||
| Time | 31.048 | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Laps | 239 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 3 | Dale Earnhardt | Richard Childress Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | ESPN | ||
| Announcers | Larry Nuber, Jerry Punch | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | Motor Racing Network | ||
Taking advantage of a misfortunate Bill Elliott, who ran out of gas on the final lap, Richard Childress Racing's Dale Earnhardt, who had been the dominant car of the race, passed Elliott with half a lap remaining to take his 23rd career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his third victory of the season.[1][2] To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Bill Elliott and owner-driver Richard Petty finished second and third, respectively.
Background
Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that is effective at both ends.
Entry list
- (R) denotes rookie driver.
Qualifying
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, March 26, 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 Friday, March 27, at 2:00 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-40 would be 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 were given.
Ken Schrader, driving for Donlavey Racing, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 31.048 and an average speed of 158.387 miles per hour (254.899 km/h) in the first round.[4]
Three drivers failed to qualify.
Full qualifying results
Race results
Standings after the race
- Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.