Atlanta Race to Close Out the 1987 NASCAR Schedule

The Atlanta Journal 500 and the Winston Western 500 will change places on NASCAR’s 1987 schedule, making the Nov. 22 race at Atlanta International Raceway the finale of the Winston Cup season.

It means the stock car championship will probably be decided in the South, the home of stock car racing.

NASCAR hasn’t decided whether to mke the change permanent, but will officially announce the 1987 move Thursday, said public relations director Chip Williams.

Since 1973, when the seson finished at Rockingham, N.C., the final race has taken place in California. It was at the oval track at Ontario for seven years and at Riverside, a road course, since then.

“This is something we should have been doing all along,” said Richard Petty, who has championed keeping the final race in the South. “It’s not right for the people who support you all year long to have the championship race taken away from them. Atlanta is a perfect place to end it.”

Controversy over ending the season in the West rose in 1979, when the Winston Cup points race between Petty and Darrell Waltrip went to the finish line at Ontario.

Except for this year, when Dale Earnhardt clinched the title in Atlanta, it has been decided at Riverside.