The 1988 Budweiser 400 was the 12th stock car race of the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season, the third race of the 1988 NASCAR Winston West Series, and the 20th and final iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, June 12, 1988, before an audience of 72,000 in Riverside, California, at the short layout of Riverside International Raceway, a permanent road course layout at the track. The race took the scheduled 95 laps to complete. Following an initial scoring error, Blue Max Racing driver Rusty Wallace would manage to pull away on the final restart with five laps left in the race to take his fifth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season. To fill out the top three, Junior Johnson & Associates driver Terry Labonte and King Racing driver Ricky Rudd would finish second and third, respectively.

The race was the final NASCAR Winston Cup Series race held at Riverside International Raceway before the track's closure in 1989.

Background

Riverside International Raceway (sometimes known as Riverside, RIR, or Riverside Raceway) was a motorsports race track and road course established in the Edgemont area of Riverside County, California, just east of the city limits of Riverside and east of Los Angeles, in 1957. In 1984, the raceway became part of the newly incorporated city of Moreno Valley. Riverside was noted for its hot, dusty environment and for being somewhat of a complicated and dangerous track for drivers. It was also considered one of the finest tracks in the United States.

Entry list

(R) denotes rookie driver.

#DriverTeamMakeSponsor1Jim BownBown RacingChevroletRose Auto Wrecking2Ernie Irvan (R)U.S. RacingChevroletKroger3Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevroletGM Goodwrench Service03Howard MarkMark RacingChevroletDeland Truck Centers4Rick WilsonMorgan–McClure MotorsportsOldsmobileKodak04Hershel McGriffMcGriff RacingPontiacU.S. Bank5Geoff BodineHendrick MotorsportsChevroletLevi Garrett6Mark MartinRoush RacingFordStroh Light7Alan KulwickiAK RacingFordZerex8Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuickMiller High Life08Rick McCrayMcCray RacingPontiacFar West Meat9Bill ElliottMelling RacingFordCoors Light10Ken Bouchard (R)Whitcomb RacingFordWhitcomb Racing11Terry LabonteJunior Johnson & AssociatesChevroletBudweiser12Bobby AllisonStavola Brothers RacingBuickMiller High Life14Butch GillilandGilliland RacingBuickAnaheim Wheels & Brakes15Brett BodineBud Moore EngineeringFordCrisco16Reno FontanaFontana RacingPontiacThe Hollywood Reporter17Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevroletTide18Rick HendrickHendrick MotorsportsChevroletSuperflo19Chad LittleStoke RacingFordCoors Extra Gold20Scott GaylordBurney RacingOldsmobileOliver Manufacturing21Kyle PettyWood Brothers RacingFordCitgo22St. James DavisSt. James RacingBuickSt. James Racing25Ken SchraderHendrick MotorsportsChevroletFolgers26Ricky RuddKing RacingBuickQuaker State27Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiacKodiak28Davey AllisonRanier-Lundy RacingFordHavoline29Dale JarrettCale Yarborough MotorsportsOldsmobileHardee's30Michael WaltripBahari RacingPontiacCountry Time31Joe RuttmanBob Clark MotorsportsOldsmobileSlender You Figure Salons32Ruben GarciaStoke RacingChevroletPick Your Part33Morgan ShepherdMach 1 RacingChevroletSkoal Bandit41Jack SellersVincent RacingChevroletCoca-Cola43Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiacSTP44Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobilePiedmont Airlines45Billy FulcherFulcher RacingOldsmobileFulcher Racing46Marta LeonardLeonard RacingChevroletThe Leonard Company48Tony SpanosHylton MotorsportsBuickHylton Motorsports50George FollmerMidgley RacingPontiacMidgley Racing52Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiacEureka55Phil ParsonsJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobileCrown, Skoal Classic62Terry PetrisPetris RacingChevroletPetris Custom Homes63Jocko MaggiacomoLinro MotorsportsChevroletLinro Motorsports66John KrebsKrebs RacingOldsmobileSkoal67Ron EsauArrington RacingBuickMcDonald's68Derrike CopeTesta RacingFordPurolator Filters71Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevroletLifebuoy73Bill SchmittSchmitt RacingChevroletSchmitt Racing74Ray KellyRay Kelly RacingPontiacRay Kelly Racing75Neil BonnettRahMoc EnterprisesPontiacValvoline76Tommy KendallSpears MotorsportsBuickSpears Manufacturing79Roy SmithRazore RacingFordWestern Peterbilt81Glen SteurerSteurer RacingChevroletSteurer Racing82J. C. DanielsenGautsche RacingBuickChico Auto Parts83Lake SpeedSpeed RacingOldsmobileWynn's, Kmart85Sumner McKnightMcKnight RacingFordMcKnight Racing88Buddy BakerBaker-Schiff RacingOldsmobileRed Baron Frozen Pizza89Bob HowardHathaway RacingOldsmobilePennzoil90Benny ParsonsDonlavey RacingFordBull's-Eye Barbecue Sauce97Rodney CombsWinkle MotorsportsBuickAC Spark Plug

Qualifying Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, June 10, at 4:30 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 25 drivers in the round would be 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, June 11, at 12:30 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 26-40 would be 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; which was two for entries in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and two extra provisionals for the NASCAR Winston West Series.

Ricky Rudd, driving for King Racing, would win the pole, setting a time of 1:19.606 and an average speed of in the first round.

18 drivers would fail to qualify.

Full qualifying results Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed126Ricky RuddKing RacingBuick1:19.606118.484227Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiac1:19.671118.387311Terry LabonteJunior Johnson & AssociatesChevrolet1:19.730118.299475Neil BonnettRahMoc EnterprisesPontiac1:20.020117.871521Kyle PettyWood Brothers RacingFord1:20.377117.34763Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet1:20.415117.292717Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet1:20.522117.13689Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord1:20.577117.056971Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet1:20.700116.8771044Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobile1:20.736116.8251125Ken SchraderHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet1:20.755116.7981233Morgan ShepherdMach 1 RacingChevrolet1:20.760116.7901318Rick HendrickHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet1:20.794116.741145Geoff BodineHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet1:20.875116.624156Mark MartinRoush RacingFord1:20.932116.5721619Chad LittleStoke RacingFord1:21.053116.3731715Brett BodineBud Moore EngineeringFord1:21.124116.2661883Lake SpeedSpeed RacingOldsmobile1:21.281116.0421929Dale JarrettCale Yarborough MotorsportsOldsmobile1:21.306116.006207Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord1:21.489115.7462155Phil ParsonsJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobile1:21.538115.676228Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuick1:21.677115.4792312Bobby AllisonStavola Brothers RacingBuick1:21.681115.4742476Tommy KendallSpears MotorsportsBuick1:21.843115.245254Rick WilsonMorgan–McClure MotorsportsOldsmobile1:21.883115.189Failed to lock in Round 12679Roy SmithRazore RacingFord1:20.911116.5722768Derrike CopeTesta RacingChevrolet1:21.127116.2622831Joe RuttmanBob Clark MotorsportsOldsmobile1:21.309116.0012943Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac1:21.343115.9533090Benny ParsonsDonlavey RacingFord1:21.525115.6943108Rick McCrayMcCray RacingPontiac1:21.733115.3953263Jocko MaggiacomoLinro MotorsportsChevrolet1:21.779115.3353388Buddy BakerBaker–Schiff RacingOldsmobile1:21.903115.1603428Davey AllisonRanier-Lundy RacingFord1:21.907115.1553504Hershel McGriffMcGriff RacingPontiac1:22.234114.6973662Terry PetrisPetris RacingChevrolet1:22.256114.6663773Bill SchmittSchmitt RacingChevrolet1:22.267114.6513866John KrebsKrebs RacingOldsmobile1:22.312114.588391Jim BownBown RacingChevrolet1:22.465114.3754030Michael WaltripBahari RacingPontiac1:22.538114.274Winston Cup provisionals4152Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiac -* -*422Ernie Irvan (R)U.S. RacingChevrolet -* -*Winston West provisional4332Ruben GarciaStoke RacingChevrolet -* -*Failed to qualify (results unknown)4403Howard MarkMark RacingChevrolet -* -*4510Ken Bouchard (R)Whitcomb RacingFord -* -*4614Butch GillilandGilliland RacingBuick -* -*4716Reno FontanaFontana RacingPontiac -* -*4820Scott GaylordBurney RacingOldsmobile -* -*4922St. James DavisSt. James RacingBuick -* -*5041Jack SellersVincent RacingChevrolet -* -*5145Billy FulcherFulcher RacingOldsmobile -* -*5246Marta LeonardLeonard RacingChevrolet -* -*5348Tony SpanosHylton MotorsportsBuick -* -*5450George FollmerMidgley RacingPontiac -* -*5567Ron EsauArrington RacingBuick -* -*5674Ray KellyRay Kelly RacingPontiac -* -*5781Glen SteurerSteurer RacingChevrolet -* -*5882J. C. DanielsenGautsche RacingBuick -* -*5985Sumner McKnightMcKnight RacingFord -* -*6089Bob HowardHathaway RacingOldsmobile -* -*6197Rodney CombsWinkle MotorsportsBuick -* -*Official first round qualifying resultsOfficial starting lineup

Race results