| Type: | NASWINSTON |
| Avg: | 139.047mph |
| Radio: | Motor Racing Network |
| Caption: | The 1987 Atlanta Journal 500 program cover, featuring Dale Earnhardt. |
| Official Name: | 28th Annual Atlanta Journal 500 |
| Pole Driver: | Bill Elliott |
| Pole Time: | 31.428 |
| First Team: | Melling Racing |
| Most Team: | Melling Racing |
| First Driver: | Bill Elliott |
| Most Driver: | Bill Elliott |
| Most Laps: | 168 |
| Car: | 9 |
| Pole Team: | Melling Racing |
| Date: | November 22 |
| Location: | Hampton, Georgia, Atlanta International Raceway |
| Season No: | 29 |
| Race No: | 29 |
| Network: | ESPN |
| Race Name: | Atlanta Journal 500 |
| Year: | 1987 |
| Scheduled Laps: | 328 |
| Distance Laps: | 328 |
| Distance Km: | 803.41 |
| Scheduled Mi: | 499.216 |
| Scheduled Km: | 803.41 |
| Course Km: | 2.449 |
| Course Mi: | 1.522 |
| Distance Mi: | 499.216 |
| Announcers: | Bob Jenkins, Larry Nuber |
| Attendance: | 70,000 |
The 1987 Atlanta Journal 500 was the 29th and final stock car race of the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 28th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, November 22, 1987, before an audience of 70,000 in Hampton, Georgia, at Atlanta International Raceway, a 1.522miles permanent asphalt quad-oval intermediate speedway. The race took the scheduled 328 laps to complete.
By race's end, Melling Racing's Bill Elliott, with the assistance of a makeshift pit crew, managed to dominate the late stages of the race, leading the final 82 laps to take his 23rd career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his sixth and final victory of the season.[1] [2] To fill out the top three, Richard Childress Racing's Dale Earnhardt and Bud Moore Engineering's Ricky Rudd finished second and third, respectively.
Atlanta International Raceway is a 1.522-mile race track in Hampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It has annually hosted NASCAR Winston Cup Series stock car races since its inauguration in 1960.
The venue was bought by Speedway Motorsports in 1990. In 1994, 46 condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track. In 1997, to standardize the track with Speedway Motorsports' other two intermediate ovals, the entire track was almost completely rebuilt. The frontstretch and backstretch were swapped, and the configuration of the track was changed from oval to quad-oval, with a new official length of 1.54miles where before it was 1.522miles. The project made the track one of the fastest on the NASCAR circuit.
Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, November 20, at 2:00 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, November 21, at 10:30 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,[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.
Bill Elliott, driving for Melling Racing, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 31.428 and an average speed of 174.341mph in the first round.[4]
11 drivers failed to qualify.
| Pos | Driver | Points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dale Earnhardt | 4,696 | |||||||
| 2 | Bill Elliott | 4,207 (-489) | |||||||
| 3 | Terry Labonte | 4,002 (-694) | |||||||
| 4 | Darrell Waltrip | 3,916 (–780) | |||||||
| 5 | Rusty Wallace | 3,818 (–878) | |||||||
| 2 | 6 | Ricky Rudd | 3,742 (–954) | ||||||
| 7 | Kyle Petty | 3,737 (–959) | |||||||
| 2 | 8 | Richard Petty | 3,708 (–988) | ||||||
| 9 | Bobby Allison | 3,525 (–1,171) | |||||||
| 1 | 10 | Ken Schrader | 3,405 (–1,291) | ||||||
| Official driver's standings | |||||||||