RACE REPORTS
BUSCH CLASH: Dale Earnhardt holds off the Allisons to win.
DUELS: Bobby Allison wins the first, Darrell Waltrip wins the second. During the first duel, Bobby Wawak hits the wall and is instantly killed. During the second, J.D. McDuffie is injured in a fiery crash.
DAYTONA 500: Bobby and Davey Allison battle for the win but Bobby is able to stay in front of his son and win. This is his third 500 win. Richard Petty has an insane crash and is taken to the hospital. Thankfully, he is okay.
PONTIAC EXCITEMENT 400: Neil Bonnett wins a very long and treacherous final race at the old Richmond Fairgrounds track. The track will be rebuilt for the fall race. Hoosier tires make there debut, most notably with Lake Speed who leads for a while. Eddie Bierschwale, Terry Schoonover, Ernie Irvan, and Kenny Schrader fail to qualify. Schrader ends up in Buddy Arrington's car.
GOODYEAR INTERNATIONAL 500K: In a field of Solo Cup, Solo West, ARCA, and Aussie drivers, Neil Bonnett dominates as he, Bobby Allison, and Dave Marcis are the top three. The race could possibly end up on the 1989 calendar as a points race.
GOODWRENCH 500: Bill Elliott leads early, but soon develops problems. After that, it pretty much becomes the Neil Bonnett show with occasional challenges by Lake Speed and Sterling Marlin. Bonnett is off to a great start in 88.
MOTORCRAFT 500: Chad Little looks like he could win his first race, but blows up at the end. The race was entirely Dale Earnhardt's. Rusty Wallace finished second as the only other car on the lead lap. This is the second time Earnhardt and Wallace have finished 1-2 in the race. The other time was back in 1980.
TRANSOUTH 500: Tim Richmond starts on pole but is involved in a huge wreck with Brett Bodine and Terry Schoonover. After this, Lake Speed passes Geoff Bodine and Mark Martin to grab his first Solo Cup win. Alan Kulwicki is second.
VALLEYDALE MEATS 500: Terry Schoonover stars on pole but wrecks. Dale Earnhardt then leads but blows his engine. Harry Gant then looks like he's gonna win but he crashes. Geoff Bodine and Bill Elliott then battle for the win. Bodine spins Elliott but just like in nascar video games, Elliott stays in second, battles back against Bodine, and wins his first short track race.
FIRST UNION 400: Terry Labonte starts second, leads, falls back, and in the end, passes Dale Earnhardt to win.
PANILL SWEATSHIRTS 500: Harry Gant is hoping to get a win, but blows his engine. Dale Earnhardt and Sterling Marlin battle for the rest of the race, but Earnhardt is too much for Marlin. Earnhardt gets his second win of the season. Earnhardt, Marlin, and Buddy Baker are the only cars on the lead lap at the end.
SOLO 500: Phil Parsons and Geoff Bodine battle each other throughout the race. In the end, Parsons grabs his first career win.
MUSIC CITY 420: Continuing the trend of first time winners, Sterling Marlin wins at his home track. He starts from pole and dominates. All first time winners this season have won in Oldsmobiles.
SOLO ALL-STAR RACE: Terry Labonte holds off Sterling Marlin in the final segment to win. Davey Allison had the best car of the day, but ended up fourth. Bill Elliott was third.
COCA-COLA 600: In a wreckfest filled race, Darrell Waltrip holds off Rusty Wallace to win. The scariest wreck was Dave Marcis hitting Sterling Marlin and going airborne into the wall. He was okay. Brett Bodine had a great run, the rookie lead and ended up fourth. All cars ran Hoosier Tires as Goodyear pulled out of the race due to tires wearing out quickly.
BUDWEISER 500: Bill Elliott cruises to an easy victory. Due to last week's WRECKFEST, some drivers had to be subbed out. Joe Ruttman filled in for Harry Gant and finished second. Larry Pearson filled in for Terry Schoonover. In the previous days Busch series race, Larry Pollard subbed for Gant and was also injured. Bobby Hillin won that race but not without controversy as NASCAR claimed he passed under yellow, but then gave him the win anyway.
BUD LIGHT 400: Ricky Rudd started on pole and leads for a while, but Rusty Wallace dominated the second half of the race and won. There was an extensive red flag for Solo West series driver Reuben Garcia crashing heavily into concrete barriers. This was the first race using the new pit road entry chicane designed to slow the cars down when pitting.
MILLER HIGH LIFE 500: Geoff Bodine has a dominant day even though he has to battle his teammates and chase Rusty Wallace until he pits. It's Bodine's first win since Nashville last year. Michael Waltrip finishes a career best second. Bobby Allison does not start due to a battery failure on his car and NASCAR not allowing backup cars to be run on race day.
MILLER GENUINE DRAFT 400: Rusty Wallace has a dominant day en-route to his first big track win. He battled Bill Elliott and Davey Allison with the ladder dropping out.
PEPSI FIRECRACKER 400: Terry Schoonover edges Bill Elliott at the line to grab his first career win and the first for the Morgan-McClure team. Schoonover had been out front most of the day and had to battle Elliott as well as Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip.
OPRYLAND 420: Darrell Waltrip wins in a battle between himself, Earnhardt, and Geoff Bodine. Joe Ruttman finishes fourth in his last race subbing for Harry Gant.
AC SPARK PLUGS 500: Another race dominated by one driver, in this case, Bill Elliott. Joe Rutmann is now subbing for Neil Bonnett while Bonnett recovers from gull bladder surgery.
DIE-HARD TALLADEGA 500: On the final lap, Tim Richmond battles past Geoff Bodine, Sterling Marlin, and Dale Earnhardt to win his first race of the year. Richmond has been trying hard to win a race so far in 88' but has come short until now.
TEXACO LONE STAR 500: Dubbed as Hendrick Motorsports "Best Day Ever", Hendrick cars finish 1-2-3-4 as Ken Schrader wins his first career race. Schrader hoped to do well when he moved to Hendrick a year earlier and has finally proven his worth. Waltrip is second, Richmond third, and Bodine fourth.
BUDWEISER AT THE GLEN: Ricky Rudd holds off Rusty Wallace to win. It is Rudd's first win of the year. He always does well at road courses. Joe Rutmann subbed yet again. This time for Buddy Baker.
CHAMPION SPARK PLUGS 400: Davey Allison wins his first race of the season. Rusty Wallace and Bill Elliott put on a great fight for second with Wallace getting it. After years of rumors and speculation, Chrysler finally announces their return to the sport. Richard Petty helped unveil the new 1989 LeBaron race car. Other teams to run the car include Cale Yarborough and Buddy Baker's teams. More have yet to be announced.
BUSCHHHHHHH 500: Dale Earnhardt narrowly holds off Bill Elliott to win. During practice, Rusty Wallace flipped. He missed the Busch race, but ran some laps in this race until Larry Pearson drove in relief. Rick Mast makes his cup debut in Buddy Baker's car. Baker is pretty much done for the season after his operation. With only one race left until the playoffs, Earnhardt, Elliott, Wallace, Richmond and others are locked in. Drivers on the bubble include Ricky Rudd and Davey Allison.
SOUTHERN 500: Bill Elliott holds off a hard charging Rusty Wallace to win. Entering the playoffs, the standings look like this:
1 Bill Elliott 3212
2 Rusty Wallace 3186 -26
3 Dale Earnhardt 3071 -141
4 Tim Richmond 2832 -380
5 Terry Labonte 2796 -416
6 Geoffrey Bodine 2791 -421
7 Sterling Marlin 2704 -508
8 Darrell Waltrip 2669 -543
9 Phil Parsons 2661 -551
10 Davey Allison 2509 -703
11 Ricky Rudd 2489 -723
12 Bobby Hillin, Jr. 2442 -770
Mark Martin, Alan Kulwicki, and Bobby Allison were some of the drivers who didn't make it.
WRANGLER 400: In the first cup race on the new track, Davey Allison starts from pole and wins. Ricky Rudd was running well until he blew a tire in the closing laps.
DELAWARE 500: Bill Elliott sweeps the Dover races for 1988. Bobby Hillin Jr and Ricky Rudd are eliminated.
GOODY'S 500: Ricky Rudd was having a good day until his engine let go towards the end of the race. Darrell Waltrip went on to win. He now hopes he can make it a three-peat next year.
OAKWOOD HOMES 500: Rusty Wallace keeps Darrell Waltrip at bay and wins. Rob Moroso makes his debut in a fifth Hendrick car, the #18 Peak Antifreeze Chevrolet and Jimmy Spencer makes his debut in Buddy Baker's car to get cup experience. Ernie Irvan, Greg Sacks, and Emerson Fittipaldi were some of the drivers who didn't qualify. Phil Parsons and Davey Allison are eliminated from the playoffs.
HOLLY FARMS 400: Rusty Wallace fights Geoff Bodine tooth and nail to win his second win in a row. On the final lap, they try to take each other out. Geoff tries in turn two, and Rusty in turn four, giving him the win. Wallace really wants to battle Elliott for the championship.
AC DELCO 500: Rusty Wallace wins three in a row and takes the points lead. Bill Elliott finished fourth but a lap down due to a late pit stop. Sterling Marlin and Darrell Waltrip are eliminated. Waltrip DNF'S in the race.
ATLANTA JOURNAL 500: Rusty Wallace makes it four in a row and is just about to win the championship. Bill Elliott needs to win in order to keep up with Wallace.
CHECKER AUTO PARTS 500: Ricky Rudd is on his way to a win until he blows his engine. Alan Kulwicki takes the lead and wins his first Solo Cup race. He then drove around the track the opposite way en route to victory lane. It's later dubbed as the "Polish Victory Lap". Bill Elliott finishes one spot ahead of Wallace in fourth. Rusty still has the points lead though. Tim Richmond and Geoff Bodine are eliminated.
COORS 500: Rusty Wallace wins. He now needs to finish ahead of Elliott at Ontario to win the championship. He and Elliott are the final two.
L.A TIMES 500: Bill Elliott starts on pole but wrecks. Rusty Wallace wins the championship and the race. The final point standings are:
1 Rusty Wallace 4488
2 Bill Elliott 4464 -24
3 Dale Earnhardt 4256 -232
4 Terry Labonte 4007 -481
5 Tim Richmond 3858 -630
6 Geoffrey Bodine 3799 -689
7 Darrell Waltrip 3764 -724
8 Davey Allison 3631 -857
9 Phil Parsons 3630 -858
10 Sterling Marlin 3621 -867
11 Ricky Rudd 3547 -941
12 Bobby Hillin, Jr. 3446 -1042
YOUR 1988 NASCAR SOLO CUP CHAMPION: RUSTY WALLACE