NASCAR Winston Cup race number 19 of 29
Sunday, August 16, 1987 at Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, MI
200 laps on a 2.000 mile paved track (400.0 miles)
| Time of race: 2:53:06 Average Speed: 138.648 mph Pole Speed: 170.705 mph |
Cautions: 5 for 25 laps Margin of Victory: 0.76 sec Attendance: 72,000 Lead changes: 16 |
Bill Elliott, in familiar territory took his 20th career victory at the Michigan International Speedway. It was Elliott’s 6th in the last 8 starts at the two-mile oval. Elliott led two times for a total of 16 laps for the victory. The Coors-Melling Ford Thunderbird qualified in 3rd place while Donnie Allison won the pole position. Elliott played the waiting game until he took the lead on lap 198 to lead the final three laps to take the checkered flag ahead of second place finisher Dale Earnhardt. Finishing out the top five positions were Morgan Shepherd, Rusty Wallace and Davey Allison. Harry Melling, the team owner collected $52,875 for the event with Elliott received 180 championship points for the win.
Elliott enjoyed racing Michigan International Speedway and with his smooth driving style, he had some astounding results at this speedway through the years. Complimented by the high HP engines of Ernie Elliott, and the smooth drivelines of Dan Elliott, Bill’s brothers, the Coors Melling Team had some tremendous finishing stats through the years. Elliott ran 61 races at Michigan with 7 wins, 17 top 5’s, 29 top 10’s, and 6 pole positions. Elliott led 1,004 laps of the 11,212 laps he completed on the 2 mile track earning $2,463,235 in total earnings to date. Elliott drove a total of 22,424 miles at Michigan Speedway with an average starting position of 11th, with an average finish of 14.6.
(Article by Dale Brown)