1987 First Union 400

The 1987 First Union 400 was the sixth stock car race of the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 37th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, April 5, 1987, before an audience of 26,500 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina at the North Wilkesboro Speedway, a oval short track. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete.

By race's end, Richard Childress Racing's Dale Earnhardt managed to dominate a majority of the race, leading 319 laps en route to his 24th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his fourth victory of the season, his second straight win, and his fourth win in six races, increasing his driver's championship points lead to 117 points over second-place driver Bill Elliott. To fill out the top three, Wood Brothers Racing's Kyle Petty and RahMoc Enterprises' Neil Bonnett finished second and third, respectively.

Background

North Wilkesboro Speedway is a short oval racetrack located on U.S. Route 421, about five miles east of the town of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, or 80 miles north of Charlotte. It measures and features a unique uphill backstretch and downhill frontstretch. It has previously held races in NASCAR's top three series, including 93 Winston Cup Series races. The track, a NASCAR original, operated from 1949, NASCAR's inception, until the track's original closure in 1996. The speedway briefly reopened in 2010 and hosted several stock car series races before closing again in the spring of 2011. It was re-opened in August 2022 for grassroots racing.

Entry list

(R) denotes rookie driver.

#DriverTeamMakeSponsor3Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevroletWrangler5Geoff BodineHendrick MotorsportsChevroletLevi Garrett6Bobby BakerU.S. RacingChevroletU.S. Racing7Alan KulwickiAK RacingFordZerex8Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuickMiller American9Bill ElliottMelling RacingFordCoors10Rodney CombsDiGard MotorsportsChevroletDiGard Motorsports11Terry LabonteJunior Johnson & AssociatesChevroletBudweiser12Doug WolfgangHamby RacingChevroletHesco Exhaust Systems15Ricky RuddBud Moore EngineeringFordMotorcraft Quality Parts16Larry PearsonPearson RacingChevroletChattanooga Chew17Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevroletTide18Dale Jarrett (R)Freedlander MotorsportsChevroletFreedlander Financial21Kyle PettyWood Brothers RacingFordCitgo22Bobby AllisonStavola Brothers RacingBuickMiller American26Morgan ShepherdKing RacingBuickQuaker State27Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiacKodiak30Michael WaltripBahari RacingChevroletBahari Racing33Harry GantMach 1 RacingChevroletSkoal Bandit34Jesse Samples Jr.AAG RacingChevroletAllen's Glass35Benny ParsonsHendrick MotorsportsChevroletFolgers43Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiacSTP44Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobilePiedmont Airlines52Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiacTurtle Wax55Phil ParsonsJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobileCopenhagen62Steve Christman (R)Winkle MotorsportsPontiacAC Spark Plug64Jerry CranmerLangley RacingFordSunny King Ford67Eddie BierschwaleArrington RacingFordPannill Sweatshirts70J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiacRumple Furniture71Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevroletLifebuoy75Neil BonnettRahMoc EnterprisesPontiacValvoline81Buddy ArringtonFillip RacingFordPannill Sweatshirts90Ken SchraderDonlavey RacingFordRed Baron Frozen Pizza

Qualifying Qualifying was originally scheduled to be split into two rounds. The first round was scheduled to be held on Friday, April 5, at 3:00 PM EST. Originally, the first 10 positions were going to be determined by first round qualifying, with positions 11-30 meant to be determined the following day on Saturday, April 6, at 12:15 PM EST. However, due to rain, the first round was cancelled. As a result, qualifying was condensed into one round for all starting grid spots in the race, which was run on Saturday. 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.

Bill Elliott, driving for Melling Racing, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 19.396 and an average speed of .

Eddie Bierschwale was the only driver to fail to qualify.

Full qualifying results Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed19Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord19.396116.003235Benny ParsonsHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet19.621114.67333Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet19.667114.405422Bobby AllisonStavola Brothers RacingBuick19.669114.393511Brett BodineJunior Johnson & AssociatesChevrolet19.709114.161617Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet19.736114.00575Geoff BodineHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet19.756113.889826Morgan ShepherdKing RacingBuick19.769113.815927Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiac19.772113.7971030Michael WaltripBahari RacingChevrolet19.775113.780Failed to lock in Round 11115Ricky RuddBud Moore EngineeringFord19.635114.5911221Kyle PettyWood Brothers RacingFord19.645114.5331390Ken SchraderDonlavey RacingFord19.686114.2941418Dale Jarrett (R)Freedlander MotorsportsChevrolet19.721114.0921543Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac19.777113.7691633Harry GantMach 1 RacingChevrolet19.788113.7051755Phil ParsonsJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobile19.822113.5101844Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobile19.849113.356197Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord19.858113.3042016Larry PearsonPearson RacingChevrolet19.896113.0882175Neil BonnettRahMoc EnterprisesPontiac19.898113.0772262Steve Christman (R)Winkle MotorsportsPontiac19.959112.7312310Rodney CombsDiGard MotorsportsChevrolet19.988112.5682464Jerry CranmerLangley RacingFord20.013112.4272534Jesse Samples Jr.AAG RacingChevrolet20.025112.360268Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuick20.029112.3372752Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiac20.139111.7242871Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet20.161111.6022981Buddy ArringtonFillip RacingFord20.214111.309306Bobby BakerU.S. RacingChevrolet20.243111.150Provisionals3112Doug WolfgangHamby RacingOldsmobile -* -*3270J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiac -* -*Failed to qualify3367Eddie BierschwaleArrington RacingFord -* -*Official starting lineup

Race results FinSt#DriverTeamMakeLapsLedStatusPtsWinnings133Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet400319running185$44,67521221Kyle PettyWood Brothers RacingFord4000running170$20,05532175Neil BonnettRahMoc EnterprisesPontiac40056running170$14,4704197Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord4000running160$12,93551115Ricky RuddBud Moore EngineeringFord3990running155$14,89061543Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac3991running155$6,43571755Phil ParsonsJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobile3990running146$4,6608511Terry LabonteJunior Johnson & AssociatesChevrolet3980running142$10,5159927Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiac3980running138$8,6851019Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord39810running139$17,185111633Harry GantMach 1 RacingChevrolet3980running130$4,885121418Dale Jarrett (R)Freedlander MotorsportsChevrolet3980running0$4,72513268Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuick3971running129$7,38014422Bobby AllisonStavola Brothers RacingBuick3960running121$7,30015235Benny ParsonsHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet39612running123$9,830161390Ken SchraderDonlavey RacingFord3960running115$4,415171844Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobile3950running112$4,205182981Eddie BierschwaleFillip RacingFord3920running109$1,430193112Slick JohnsonHamby RacingOldsmobile3921running0$4,045202310Rodney CombsDiGard MotorsportsChevrolet3860running103$2,03021617Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet3830running100$1,335222464Jerry CranmerLangley RacingFord3800running97$3,81523306Bobby BakerU.S. RacingChevrolet3800running94$3,500241030Michael WaltripBahari RacingChevrolet3790running91$3,440252016Larry PearsonPearson RacingChevrolet3590rear end88$1,310262871Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet3160running85$3,35527826Morgan ShepherdKing RacingBuick2580crash82$3,3452875Geoff BodineHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet2400engine79$7,610292534Jesse Samples Jr.AAG RacingChevrolet1560rear end76$1,160302752Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiac740cylinder head73$2,635312262Steve Christman (R)Winkle MotorsportsPontiac630crash70$1,135323270J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiac290engine67$1,085Failed to qualify3367Eddie BierschwaleArrington RacingFordOfficial race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Dale Earnhardt 1,025 2 Bill Elliott 928 (-117) 3 Neil Bonnett 870 (-155) 1 4 Richard Petty 833 (–192) 3 5 Ricky Rudd 805 (–220) 2 6 Darrell Waltrip 790 (–235) 2 7 Terry Labonte 785 (–240) 8 Benny Parsons 773 (–252) 3 9 Ken Schrader 770 (–255) 10 Rusty Wallace 766 (–259)Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

Notes

References