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1988 Holly Farms 400

Race details
Race 26 of 29 in the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1988 Holly Farms 400 program cover, featuring Terry Labonte.
Date	October 16, 1988
Official name	39th Annual Holly Farms 400
Location	North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Course	Permanent racing facility 0.625 mi (1.006 km)
Distance	400 laps, 250 mi (402.336 km)
Scheduled Distance	400 laps, 250 mi (402.336 km)
Average speed	94.192 miles per hour (151.587 km/h)
Attendance	35,000
Pole position
Driver	Bill Elliott	Melling Racing
Time	19.247
Most laps led
Driver	Ricky Rudd	King Racing
Laps	154
Winner
No. 27	Rusty Wallace	Blue Max Racing
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Jerry Punch, Ned Jarrett
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1988 Holly Farms 400 was the 26th stock car race of the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 39th iteration of the event. Originally scheduled to be the 25th race of the season and to be held on Sunday, October 2, the race was delayed by two weeks due to rain and scheduling conflicts. The race was eventually held on Sunday, October 16, before an audience of 35,000 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina at the North Wilkesboro Speedway, a 0.625 miles (1.006 km) oval short track. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete.

In a three-lap sprint to the finish, Blue Max Racing's Rusty Wallace and Hendrick Motorsports' Geoff Bodine engaged for a battle for the victory. On the final lap of the race, Bodine moved Wallace up the track in the first turn, giving Bodine the lead. However, heading into the final turns, Wallace was close enough to be able to bump Bodine back, eventually deciding to send him up the track, giving Wallace the victory. The victory was Wallace's eighth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his fourth victory of the season. To fill out the top three, Jackson Bros. Motorsports' Phil Parsons and the aforementioned Geoff Bodine finished second and third, respectively.

Background

North Wilkesboro Speedway is a short oval racetrack located on U.S. Route 421, about five miles east of the town of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, or 80 miles north of Charlotte. It measures 0.625 mi (1.006 km) and features a unique uphill backstretch and downhill frontstretch. It has previously held races in NASCAR's top three series, including 93 Winston Cup Series races. The track, a NASCAR original, operated from 1949, NASCAR's inception, until the track's original closure in 1996. The speedway briefly reopened in 2010 and hosted several stock car series races before closing again in the spring of 2011. It was re-opened in August 2022 for grassroots racing.

Entry list

• (R) denotes rookie driver.

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, September 30, at 3:00 PM EST. Each driver had one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 10 drivers in the round were guaranteed a starting spot in the race. If a driver was not able to guarantee a spot in the first round, they had the option to scrub their time from the first round and try and run a faster lap time in a second round qualifying run, held on Saturday, October 1, at 11:30 AM EST. As with the first round, each driver had one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 11-30 were decided on time, and 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.

Bill Elliott, driving for Melling Racing, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 19.247 and an average speed of 116.901 miles per hour (188.134 km/h) in the first round.

Eight drivers failed to qualify.

Full qualifying results

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Bill Elliott 4,028 2 Rusty Wallace 3,939 (-89) 3 Dale Earnhardt 3,840 (-188) 4 Terry Labonte 3,520 (–508) 5 Ken Schrader 3,452 (–576) 1 6 Geoff Bodine 3,448 (–580) 1 7 Darrell Waltrip 3,405 (–623) 8 Sterling Marlin 3,289 (–739) 1 9 Phil Parsons 3,230 (–798) 1 10 Davey Allison 3,204 (–824) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

Notes

1. ^ After Means failed to qualify for the event, he substituted in place of Benny Parsons, who decided to join the commentary crew for ESPN for the race.

References

1. Higgins, Tom (October 4, 1988). "N. Wilkesboro Rain Pushes Charlotte To Forefront". The Charlotte Observer. pp. 5B. Retrieved September 15, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
2. Higgins, Tom (October 17, 1988). "Wallace Charges To North Wilkesboro Win". The Charlotte Observer. pp. 1B, 7B. Retrieved September 15, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
3. Cooper, Ray (October 17, 1988). "Final-lap tap boosts Wallace past Bodine". News & Record. pp. B4, B5. Retrieved September 15, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
4. Robinson, Bill (October 17, 1988). "Wallace Bangs Way To Second Straight NASCAR Victory". The Atlanta Constitution. pp. 3D. Retrieved September 3, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "NASCAR Today". The Charlotte Observer. September 30, 1988. pp. 5D. Retrieved September 15, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
6. Higgins, Tom (October 1, 1988). "Elliott Takes Pole At North Wilkesboro". The Charlotte Observer. pp. 1C, 4C. Retrieved September 15, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

• 1988 in sports in North Carolina
• 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
• NASCAR races at North Wilkesboro Speedway
• October 1988 sports events in the United States