The 1987 The Budweiser at The Glen was the 18th stock car race of the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the second iteration of the event. The race was originally scheduled to be held on Sunday, August 9, 1987, but was delayed until Monday, August 10, due to heavy rain. The race was held before an audience of 35,000 in Watkins Glen, New York, at the shortened layout of Watkins Glen International, a permanent road course layout.

By race's end, Blue Max Racing's Rusty Wallace, managing to retain the lead after a last-lap pit stop, dominated a majority of the race to take his third career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season. To fill out the top three, Junior Johnson & Associates' Terry Labonte and owner-driver Dave Marcis finished second and third, respectively.

Background

Watkins Glen International (nicknamed "The Glen") is an automobile race track located in Watkins Glen, New York at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. It was long known around the world as the home of the Formula One United States Grand Prix, which it hosted for twenty consecutive years (1961–1980), but the site has been home to road racing of nearly every class, including the World Sportscar Championship, Trans-Am, Can-Am, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the International Motor Sports Association and the IndyCar Series.

Initially, public roads in the village were used for the race course. In 1956 a permanent circuit for the race was built. In 1968 the race was extended to six hours, becoming the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen. The circuit's current layout has more or less been the same since 1971, although a chicane was installed at the uphill Esses in 1975 to slow cars through these corners, where there was a fatality during practice at the 1973 United States Grand Prix. The chicane was removed in 1985, but another chicane called the "Inner Loop" was installed in 1992 after J. D. McDuffie's fatal accident during the previous year's NASCAR Winston Cup event.

The circuit is known as the Mecca of North American road racing and is a very popular venue among fans and drivers. The facility is currently owned by NASCAR.

Entry list

(R) denotes rookie driver.

#DriverTeamMake1Chuck SchroedelGray RacingPontiac3Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet4Rick WilsonMorgan–McClure MotorsportsOldsmobile5Geoff BodineHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet6Rick KnoopU.S. RacingChevrolet7Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord8Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuick9Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord11Terry LabonteJunior Johnson & AssociatesChevrolet12Trevor BoysHamby RacingChevrolet15Ricky RuddBud Moore EngineeringFord17Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet18Dale Jarrett (R)Freedlander MotorsportsChevrolet19Derrike Cope (R)Stoke RacingChevrolet21Kyle PettyWood Brothers RacingFord22Bobby AllisonStavola Brothers RacingBuick25Tim RichmondHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet26Morgan ShepherdKing RacingBuick27Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiac28Davey Allison (R)Ranier-Lundy RacingFord30Michael WaltripBahari RacingChevrolet33Harry GantMach 1 RacingChevrolet35Benny ParsonsHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet43Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac44Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobile50Greg SacksDingman Brothers RacingPontiac51Paul NewmanHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet52Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiac55Phil ParsonsJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobile61Mike PotterArrington RacingFord62Steve Christman (R)Winkle MotorsportsPontiac63Jocko MaggiacomoLinro MotorsportsChevrolet64Rodney CombsLangley RacingFord67Buddy ArringtonArrington RacingFord70J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiac71Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet75Neil BonnettRahMoc EnterprisesPontiac76Phil GoodGood RacingFord81Tom RotsellChilson RacingFord88Buddy BakerBaker–Schiff RacingOldsmobile89Patty MoiseReno EnterprisesChevrolet90Ken SchraderDonlavey RacingFord

Qualifying Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, August 7, at 1:00 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, August 8, at 11:00 AM 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, 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.

Terry Labonte, driving for Junior Johnson & Associates, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 1:14.102 and an average speed of in the first round.

No drivers failed to qualify.

Full qualifying results Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed111Terry LabonteJunior Johnson & AssociatesChevrolet1:14.102117.956227Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiac1:14.251117.72035Geoff BodineHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet1:14.395117.492425Tim RichmondHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet1:14.413117.463526Morgan ShepherdKing RacingBuick1:14.599117.170655Phil ParsonsJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobile1:14.636117.112715Ricky RuddBud Moore EngineeringFord1:14.687117.032817Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet1:14.764116.91299Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord1:14.806116.8361075Neil BonnettRahMoc EnterprisesPontiac1:15.006116.535113Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet1:15.119116.3591230Michael WaltripBahari RacingChevrolet1:15.356115.9931344Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobile1:15.356115.9931471Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet1:15.385115.9491535Benny ParsonsHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet1:15.467115.823164Rick WilsonMorgan–McClure MotorsportsOldsmobile1:15.543115.706178Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuick1:15.636115.4561833Harry GantMach 1 RacingChevrolet1:15.709115.453197Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord1:15.741115.4042018Dale Jarrett (R)Freedlander MotorsportsChevrolet1:16.025114.973Failed to lock in Round 12122Bobby AllisonStavola Brothers RacingBuick1:15.234116.1822243Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac1:16.096114.8652390Ken SchraderDonlavey RacingFord1:16.185114.7312421Kyle PettyWood Brothers RacingFord1:16.357114.4732519Derrike Cope (R)Stoke RacingChevrolet1:16.502114.2562663Jocko MaggiacomoLinro MotorsportsChevrolet1:17.114113.3492788Buddy BakerBaker–Schiff RacingOldsmobile1:17.978112.0932862Steve Christman (R)Winkle MotorsportsPontiac1:18.582111.2322952Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiac1:18.596111.2123089Patty MoiseReno EnterprisesChevrolet1:18.839110.8693170J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiac1:19.082110.5283212Trevor BoysHamby RacingChevrolet1:19.130110.4613328Davey Allison (R)Ranier-Lundy RacingFord1:19.142110.445346Rick KnoopU.S. RacingChevrolet1:19.403110.0813581Tom RotsellChilson RacingFord1:20.073109.1603664Rodney CombsLangley RacingFord1:20.324108.8193767Buddy ArringtonArrington RacingFord1:20.571108.4863876Phil GoodGood RacingFord1:21.258107.5683961Mike PotterArrington RacingFord1:22.515105.930401Chuck SchroedelGray RacingPontiac1:23.750104.368WithdrewWD50Greg SacksDingman Brothers RacingPontiac - -WD51Paul NewmanHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet - -Official first round qualifying resultsOfficial starting lineup

Race results FinSt#DriverTeamMakeLapsLedStatusPtsWinnings1227Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiac9063running185$52,9252111Terry LabonteJunior Johnson & AssociatesChevrolet900running170$35,85031471Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet900running165$23,8804715Ricky RuddBud Moore EngineeringFord900running160$20,13551535Benny ParsonsHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet900running155$19,6556197Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord900running150$13,8757655Phil ParsonsJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobile900running146$6,1208113Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet906running147$17,00592122Bobby AllisonStavola Brothers RacingBuick900running138$12,54010425Tim RichmondHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet907running139$5,96011817Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet900running130$4,180122421Kyle PettyWood Brothers RacingFord900running127$11,945132788Buddy BakerBaker–Schiff RacingOldsmobile900running124$3,715142243Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac900running121$7,6551535Geoff BodineHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet9010running123$11,305161230Michael WaltripBahari RacingChevrolet890running115$8,205173328Davey Allison (R)Ranier-Lundy RacingFord880running112$3,775181833Harry GantMach 1 RacingChevrolet880running109$6,870192952Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiac880running106$6,585203767Buddy ArringtonArrington RacingFord880running103$6,86521164Rick WilsonMorgan–McClure MotorsportsOldsmobile880running100$2,50522526Morgan ShepherdKing RacingBuick880running97$5,810233664Rodney CombsLangley RacingFord870running0$5,490243170J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiac870running91$2,22525346Rick KnoopU.S. RacingChevrolet860running0$5,310263581Tom RotsellChilson RacingFord840running85$2,110272390Ken SchraderDonlavey RacingFord830running82$4,8302899Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord770running79$10,60029178Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuick750running76$9,695303961Mike PotterArrington RacingFord740running73$1,890312519Derrike Cope (R)Stoke RacingChevrolet650transmission70$1,835321344Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobile640running67$4,515333089Patty MoiseReno EnterprisesChevrolet530crash64$1,690342862Steve Christman (R)Winkle MotorsportsPontiac520crash61$1,635352663Jocko MaggiacomoLinro MotorsportsChevrolet510engine58$1,580362018Dale Jarrett (R)Freedlander MotorsportsChevrolet420transmission55$4,280371075Neil BonnettRahMoc EnterprisesPontiac244engine57$4,230383212Trevor BoysHamby RacingChevrolet170engine0$3,465393876Phil GoodGood RacingFord100transmission46$1,43540401Chuck SchroedelGray RacingPontiac80engine43$1,375WithdrewWD50Greg SacksDingman Brothers RacingPontiacWD51Paul NewmanHendrick MotorsportsChevroletOfficial race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Dale Earnhardt 2,971 1 2 Terry Labonte 2,488 (–483) 1 3 Bill Elliott 2,473 (–498) 1 4 Kyle Petty 2,381 (–590) 1 5 Neil Bonnett 2,369 (–602) 6 Darrell Waltrip 2,362 (–609) 2 7 Rusty Wallace 2,315 (–656) 8 Ricky Rudd 2,314 (–657) 2 9 Ken Schrader 2,280 (–691) 10 Richard Petty 2,188 (–783)Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

Notes

References