The 1987 Daytona 500, the 29th running of the event, was held February 15 at Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Florida. Driving his Coors/Melling #9 Ford Thunderbird, Bill Elliott had a dominant week, winning the pole with a record speed of 210.364 mph, winning the Busch Clash, and finishing second in a photo finish to Ken Schrader in his Twin 125 qualifier before winning his second Daytona 500.
After numerous crashes in other races that week, the 1987 Daytona 500 was relatively incident free, with only 4 cautions for 15 laps, and no serious wrecks. For the final fifty laps of the race, Elliott, Earnhardt, Parsons, Baker, Bodine, Petty and Schrader put on a back and forth duel for the win, resulting in a near record average speed of 176.263 mph for race winner Elliott.