18th race of 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
Motor car race
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 &amp; 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 International Speedway Corporation.
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 &amp; 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.
Standings after the race.
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References.
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