The 1987 TranSouth 500 was the fifth stock car race of the 1987 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 31st iteration of the event.

Taking advantage of a misfortunate Bill Elliott, who ran out of gas on the final lap, Richard Childress Racing's Dale Earnhardt, who had been the dominant car of the race, passed Elliott with half a lap remaining to take his 23rd career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his third victory of the season.

[1][2] To fill out the top three, the aforementioned Bill Elliott and owner-driver Richard Petty finished second and third, respectively.

This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that is effective at both ends.

Ken Schrader, driving for Donlavey Racing, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 31.048 and an average speed of 158.387 miles per hour (254.899 km/h) in the first round.