Dale Earnhardt celebrates in victory lane after winning the 1987 All-Star Challenge. SPEED will televise the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race XXIV and the NASCAR Sprint Showdown live on May 17th. (Lowe's Motor Speedway Archives Photo) ยป More Photos
The 1987 All-Star race – known then simply as “The Winston” — was run in three segments for the first time: 75 laps, then 50 and, finally, 10. The first two segments, though, were pretty much irrelevant. What paid the $200,000 purse was winning the 10 laps at the end, and that’s what Earnhardt had his sights set on.
Elliott dominated early on, winning both of the first two segments as he led 121 of the first 125 laps. He started the final 10-lap shootout on the pole, with Geoff Bodine in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on the outside of the front row; Kyle Petty was third in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford; and Earnhardt sat fourth in the familiar No. 3, blue and yellow, Wrangler Chevrolet owned by Childress.
The pace car was slow getting onto pit road and that hampered Elliott on the restart. Bodine got the jump on the Georgia native, but in the first and second turns, Bodine and Elliott collided. Bodine spun, but didn't make contact with anything and Earnhardt, who had moved into third, darted to the inside and into the lead.
“Bodine beat me to Turn 1,” Elliott said. “When he tried to cut down, Earnhardt and I got together and he (Bodine) spun. When I checked up, Earnhardt beat me to the flag and from then on the race was on.”
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Bodine pitted for fresh tires as the field prepared for the restart. “When I pitted, I pushed my radio button and asked who ran into me,” Bodine said. “Rick Hendrick came on the radio and said, ‘Earnhardt.’ I was seeing blue and yellow. I was on a mission.”
When they lined up for the restart, Earnhardt was on the pole with Elliott beside him.
Seven laps from the finish Earnhardt was leading when he attempted to squeeze Elliott into the frontstretch grass. The move failed and instead sent Earnhardt careening into the grass, where he kept his car heading straight, plowing through 150 feet of grass, and returning to the track in a remarkable driving feat.
The move was dubbed “the pass in the grass,” even though it happened when Earnhardt was already out front and no pass was involved.
“I had the run on him coming off Turn 4,” said Elliott. “I was already up to his left-rear wheel when he turned left to try to cut me off. Instead, it turned him into the grass. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, but from then on, he was ticked off because it looked like I was trying to spin him, which I wasn't.”
But payback was coming and coming in a hurry – the very next lap.
