| Type: | NASWINSTON |
| Official Name: | 24th Annual AC Delco 500 |
| Date: | October 23 |
| Pole Driver: | Bill Elliott |
| Pole Team: | Melling Racing |
| Announcers: | Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett, Gary Nelson |
| Most Driver: | Bill Elliott |
| First Driver: | Rusty Wallace |
| Most Laps: | 217 |
| Most Team: | Melling Racing |
| First Team: | Blue Max Racing |
| Car: | 27 |
| Network: | ESPN |
| Radio: | Motor Racing Network |
| Avg: | 111.557mph |
| Attendance: | 52,400 |
| Location: | Rockingham, North Carolina, North Carolina Motor Speedway |
| Distance Km: | 805.257 |
| Scheduled Km: | 805.257 |
| Scheduled Mi: | 500.364 |
| Scheduled Laps: | 492 |
| Distance Laps: | 492 |
| Course Km: | 1.636 |
| Course Mi: | 1.017 |
| Season No: | 29 |
| Race No: | 27 |
| Race Name: | AC Delco 500 |
| Year: | 1988 |
| Pole Time: | 24.678 |
| Distance Mi: | 500.364 |
| Caption: | The 1988 AC Delco 500 program cover. |
The 1988 AC Delco 500 was the 27th stock car race of the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 24th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, October 23, 1988, before an audience of 52,400 in Rockingham, North Carolina, at North Carolina Speedway, a 1.017miles permanent high-banked racetrack.
Coming back from a two-lap deficit, Blue Max Racing's Rusty Wallace managed to gain the laps back late in the first half of the race. Afterwards, he proceeded to dominate most of the second half of the race, leading 182 of the last 189 laps to take his ninth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his fifth victory of the season, and his third consecutive victory.[1] [2] To fill out the top three, King Racing's Ricky Rudd and Junior Johnson & Associates' Terry Labonte finished second and third, respectively.
In the driver's championship for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, Wallace was able to gain 10 points on championship leader Bill Elliott, dropping Wallace's deficit down to 79 points.[3]
North Carolina Motor Speedway was opened as a flat, one-mile oval on October 31, 1965. In 1969, the track was extensively reconfigured to a high-banked, D-shaped oval just over one mile in length. In 1997, North Carolina Motor Speedway merged with Penske Motorsports, and was renamed North Carolina Speedway. Shortly thereafter, the infield was reconfigured, and competition on the infield road course, mostly by the SCCA, was discontinued. Currently, the track is home to the Fast Track High Performance Driving School.
Qualifying was originally scheduled to be split into two rounds. The first round was held on Thursday, October 20, at 2:30 pm EST. Originally, the first 20 positions were going to be determined by first round qualifying, with positions 21-40 meant to be determined the following day on Friday, October 21.[4] However, due to rain, the second round was cancelled. As a result, the rest of the starting lineup was set using the results from the first round. Depending on who needed it, a select amount of positions were given to cars who had not otherwise qualified but were high enough in owner's points; up to two were given.[5]
Bill Elliott, driving for Melling Racing, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 24.678 and an average speed of 148.359mph in the first round.[6]
Seven drivers failed to qualify.
| Pos | Driver | Points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bill Elliott | 4,198 | |||||||
| 2 | Rusty Wallace | 4,119 (-79) | |||||||
| 3 | Dale Earnhardt | 4,000 (-198) | |||||||
| 4 | Terry Labonte | 3,690 (–508) | |||||||
| 5 | Ken Schrader | 3,582 (–616) | |||||||
| 6 | Geoff Bodine | 3,521 (–677) | |||||||
| 7 | Darrell Waltrip | 3,480 (–718) | |||||||
| 1 | 8 | Phil Parsons | 3,377 (–821) | ||||||
| 1 | 9 | Sterling Marlin | 3,350 (–848) | ||||||
| 10 | Davey Allison | 3,291 (–907) | |||||||
| Official driver's standings | |||||||||