1987 Daytona 500

1987 Daytona 500

Race details
Race 1 of 29 in the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1987 Daytona 500 program cover, featuring Geoff Bodine.
Date	February 15, 1987
Official name	29th Annual Daytona 500
Location	Daytona Beach, Florida, Daytona International Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.5 mi (4.0 km)
Distance	200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km)
Scheduled Distance	200 laps, 500 mi (804.672 km)
Average speed	137.531 miles per hour (221.335 km/h)
Attendance	130,000
Pole position
Driver	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing
Time	42.783
Most laps led
Driver	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing
Laps	104
Winner
No. 9	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing
Television in the United States
Network	CBS
Announcers	Ken Squier, Chris Economaki, Ned Jarrett
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1987 Daytona 500 was the first stock car race of the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 29th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, February 15, 1987, before an audience of 130,000 in Daytona Beach, Florida at Daytona International Speedway, a 2.5 miles (4.0 km) permanent triangular-shaped superspeedway. The race took the scheduled 200 laps to complete.

Nearing the race's end, two contenders for the race, Hendrick Motorsports' Geoff Bodine and Melling Racing's Bill Elliott, differed on pit strategy for the end of the race. Bodine, who was at the lead at the time, ran out of fuel with three laps left in the race, giving the lead to Elliott. Elliott was then able to fend off Bodine's teammate, Benny Parsons, to take his 18th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his first victory of the season, and his second and final Daytona 500 victory.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Benny Parsons and owner-driver Richard Petty finished second and third, respectively.