1987: Bodine's luck runs dry

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The strategy worked so well the year before, Geoff Bodine decided it was worth another try.

The defending race winner, who gambled on fuel economy and won in 1986, rolled the dice again in the 29th annual Daytona 500. It didn't work a second time.

Bill Elliott's No. 9 Ford Credit: Daytona Racing Archives

Staked to a 23-second lead when Bill Elliott pitted with 13 laps remaining and Benny Parsons, Dale Earnhardt and Buddy Baker followed one lap later, Bodine saw his chances at back-to-back victories disappear when the engine in his Chevrolet sputtered and died with less than three laps left.

Instead, it was Elliott, who had dominated most of the day, taking the checkered flag for the second time. Bodine ended up 14th.

"Staying out there was the only chance we had," Bodine said. "We couldn't outrun Bill, so we had to outlast him.

"(We) had calculated that we'd run out of gas on the last lap. If we'd lasted that long, we could have just coasted on around through the final lap and still won. I couldn't get up and draft with anybody. That was costing us fuel mileage."

Elliott led more than half the race, but knew the key to his victory was beating the rest of his challengers out of the pits on the final stop. He did just that, getting in and out in 6.3 seconds. None of the other three were able to match that time on their stops.

"It was a great stop," Elliott said. "It had to be.

KNOW YOUR NASCAR  1987 Season Recap  50 Greatest Drivers: Bill Elliott  More NASCAR History    1987 Daytona 500 Top 10  1. Bill Elliott  2. Benny Parsons  3. Richard Petty  4. Buddy Baker  5. Dale Earnhardt  6. Bobby Allison  7. Ken Schrader  8. Darrell Waltrip  9. Ricky Rudd  10. Cale Yarborough

"I felt if we could beat them out, we had a chance. That's what won it for us. If it had been ... us racing at the end, I can't say which of (us) would have won. All of us were running good and I didn't have anything extra for them."

Unlike in 1985 when Elliott had a horsepower advantage, he spent the entire day fighting off challenges. For only the third time in history, the race had no accidents, so all the top cars were still in the thick of the battle at the end.

"This victory is sweeter than the one in 1985," Elliott said. "Then, the car was superior. Today, it was only equal to some others and I had to race it.

"This was the kind of race that keeps you pumped because it was so close. You have to beat the competition in every way, on the track and on the pits."

Baker and Earnhardt knew their only chance at a win was lost in the pits.

"The car was strong enough to win," Baker said. "But there at the end, we should have pitted when Elliott did and tried to beat him out. One thing I know, you can't give that boy any kind of lead, and we gave him just the edge he needed."

"That was a race," Earnhardt added. "Elliott won it but we made him earn it and in the end, he beat us in the pits."

Parsons overcame problems on his final stop to finish second, while Richard Petty beat Baker and Earnhardt back to the line for third.

"It ain't winning, but it was a lot closer than we've been lately down here," Petty said. "At least we've got our stuff together. That's encouraging."

Elliott's winning average speed of 176.263 mph was second-fastest in Daytona history, just missing Baker's 177.602 mph race record average in 1980, the last time the race had been accident-free.

Elliott did set a speed record on his way to his third straight pole. He turned a lap of 210.364 mph, some five miles an hour faster than his pole-winning times the previous two years.

Michael Waltrip was 22nd in his first Daytona 500, while Derrike Cope finished 33rd.

This is one in a series of articles counting down to the 2003 Daytona 500.