1987 First Union 400

1987 First Union 400

Race details
Race 6 of 29 in the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1987 First Union 400 program cover, featuring Dale Earnhardt.
Date	April 5, 1987
Official name	37th Annual First Union 400
Location	North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	0.625 miles (1.006 km)
Distance	400 laps, 250 mi (402.336 km)
Scheduled distance	400 laps, 250 mi (402.336 km)
Average speed	94.103 miles per hour (151.444 km/h)
Attendance	26,500
Pole position
Driver	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing
Time	19.396
Most laps led
Driver	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing
Laps	319
Winner
No. 3	Dale Earnhardt	Richard Childress Racing
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins, Larry Nuber
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

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 0.625 miles (1.006 km) oval short track. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete.^[1]

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.^[2][3] To fill out the top three, Wood Brothers Racing's Kyle Petty and RahMoc Enterprises' Neil Bonnett finished second and third, respectively.

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 0.625 mi (1.006 km) 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.

• (R) denotes rookie driver.

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.^[6] 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.^[7]

Bill Elliott, driving for Melling Racing, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 19.396 and an average speed of 116.003 miles per hour (186.689 km/h).^[8]

Eddie Bierschwale was the only driver to fail to qualify.

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.