1988 Checker 500

Race details
Race 28 of 29 in the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Series
The 1988 Checker 500 program cover, featuring Terry Labonte.
Date	November 6, 1988
Official name	Inaugural Checker 500
Location	Avondale, Arizona, Phoenix International Raceway
Course	Permanent racing facility 1 mi (1.6 km)
Distance	312 laps, 312 mi (502.115 km)
Scheduled Distance	312 laps, 312 mi (502.115 km)
Average speed	90.457 miles per hour (145.576 km/h)
Attendance	60,000
Pole position
Driver	Geoff Bodine	Hendrick Motorsports
Time	29.220
Most laps led
Driver	Ricky Rudd	King Racing
Laps	183
Winner
No. 7	Alan Kulwicki	AK Racing
Television in the United States
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Bob Jenkins, Ned Jarrett
Radio in the United States
Radio	Motor Racing Network

The 1988 Checker 500 was the 28th and penultimate stock car race of the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season, the eighth and final race of the 1988 NASCAR Winston West Series, and the inaugural iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, November 6, 1988, before an audience of 60,000 in Avondale, Arizona at Phoenix International Raceway, a 1-mile (1.6 km) permanent low-banked tri-oval race track. The race took the scheduled 312 laps to complete.

In the closing laps of the race, owner-driver Alan Kulwicki took advantage of a misfortunate Ricky Rudd, who suffered an engine failure after being the dominant driver of the race. Passing Rudd for the lead with 16 laps left in the race, Kulwicki was able to defend a large gap to take his first career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his only victory of the season.^[1][2] To fill out the top three, Junior Johnson & Associates' Terry Labonte and Ranier-Lundy Racing's Davey Allison finished second and third, respectively.

In the driver's championship battle for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, championship leader Bill Elliott maintained a 79-point lead over second-place driver Rusty Wallace heading into the final race of the season, the 1988 Atlanta Journal 500. In order for Elliott to guarantee the title victory in the final race, he needed to finish 18th or better in the race.^[3]

In the driver's championship for the NASCAR Winston West Series, Razore Racing's Roy Smith won the championship over runner-up Bill Schmitt.

Background

The layout of Phoenix International Raceway, the venue where the race was held.

Phoenix International Raceway – also known as PIR – is a one-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona. It is named after the nearby metropolitan area of Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually. PIR has also hosted the IndyCar Series, CART, USAC and the Rolex Sports Car Series. The raceway is currently owned and operated by International Speedway Corporation.

The raceway was originally constructed with a 2.5 mi (4.0 km) road course that ran both inside and outside of the main tri-oval. In 1991 the track was reconfigured with the current 1.51 mi (2.43 km) interior layout. PIR has an estimated grandstand seating capacity of around 67,000. Lights were installed around the track in 2004 following the addition of a second annual NASCAR race weekend.

Qualifying

Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, November 4, at 3:00 PM EST. Each driver would have one lap to set a time. During the first round, the top 20 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, November 5, at 1:30 PM EST. As with the first round, each driver would have one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-40 were decided on time,^[4] 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 up to two for cars in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and up to two extra provisionals for the cars in the NASCAR Winston West Series.

Geoff Bodine, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 29.220 and an average speed of 123.203 miles per hour (198.276 km/h) in the first round.^[5]

Seven drivers failed to qualify.

Race results

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Bill Elliott 4,358 2 Rusty Wallace 4,279 (-79) 3 Dale Earnhardt 4,130 (-228) 4 Terry Labonte 3,835 (–493) 5 Ken Schrader 3,703 (–655) 6 Geoff Bodine 3,676 (–682) 7 Darrell Waltrip 3,604 (–754) 8 Phil Parsons 3,515 (–843) 9 Sterling Marlin 3,489 (–869) 10 Davey Allison 3,456 (–902) Official driver's standings Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.

References