1988 Miller High Life 400 (June)
# 1988 Miller High Life 400 (June)

The 1988 Miller High Life 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on June 26, 1988, at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. An unrelated race with the same sponsor was implemented on September 11, 1988, at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Virginia.

## Background

Michigan International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2 miles (3.2 km) long. Opened in 1968, the track's turns are banked at eighteen degrees, while the 3,600-foot-long front stretch, the location of the finish line, is banked at twelve degrees. The back stretch, has a five degree banking and is 2,242 feet long.

## Race report

Rusty Wallace defeated Bill Elliott by a time of 0.28 seconds in front of an audience of 68,000. Wallace's first victory out of the five that he would accumulate at Michigan International Speedway would be credited to his methods of fuel conservation. Wallace ran out of fuel in turn 2 of lap 129. He had a large enough lead to coast back to the pits and not lose a lap. Four cautions were given for 15 laps while 13 lead changes were made. The race took two hours and thirty-six minutes to complete. Elliott qualified for the pole position with a speed of 172.687 miles per hour (277.913 km/h) while the average race speed was 153.551 miles per hour (247.116 km/h).

Rick Wilson was the last-place finisher due to an engine issue on lap 3 of 200 with two more engine failures happening on laps 44 and 167. Dale Jarrett was the only driver to retire from an accident; he would crash his vehicle in turn 4 of lap 156. Mike Alexander's first race subbing for Bobby Allison ends with a top-10 finish. Richard Petty had a pretty fast car, running in the top-10 and top-5 for the majority of the race before the engine dropped a cylinder late causing him to limp to a disappointing 24th place finish.

Elmer Simko would make his last appearance as a NASCAR team owner at this event. He would go on to purchase the Owosso Speedway in Ovid, Michigan shortly after retiring from NASCAR. This would be the best career finish in four starts for Dana Patten with a 22nd-place finish. There was a 41-driver grid of American-born males. Only 25 of these drivers finished the race.

David Simko would retire from NASCAR Cup Series racing after this event; finishing 40th in the process. David Sosebee would also retire after this race; completing the race in 31st place.

Notable crew chiefs in attendance for this race were Junie Donlavey, Darrell Bryant, Joey Arrington, Andy Petree, Jimmy Means, Dale Inman, Travis Carter, Elmo Langley among others.

Jimmy Horton, Jay Sommers, J.D. McDuffie, and Connie Saylor would fail to qualify for this race. Individual earnings for each driver ranged from the winner's share of $64,100 ($146,867.28 when adjusted for inflation) to the last-place finisher's share of $3,050 ($6,988.22 when adjusted for inflation). The total prize purse for this event was advertised at $440,975 ($1,010,371.25 when adjusted for inflation).

## Finishing order

| POS | ST | # | DRIVER | SPONSOR / OWNER | CAR | LAPS | MONEY | STATUS | LED | PTS |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 5 | 27 | Rusty Wallace | Kodiak (Raymond Beadle) | Pontiac | 200 | 64100 | running | 106 | 185 |
| 2 | 1 | 9 | Bill Elliott | Coors (Harry Melling) | Ford | 200 | 42875 | running | 24 | 175 |
| 3 | 18 | 11 | Terry Labonte | Budweiser (Junior Johnson) | Chevrolet | 200 | 28075 | running | 29 | 170 |
| 4 | 9 | 3 | Dale Earnhardt | GM Goodwrench (Richard Childress) | Chevrolet | 200 | 26175 | running | 12 | 165 |
| 5 | 2 | 5 | Geoffrey Bodine | Levi Garrett (Rick Hendrick) | Chevrolet | 200 | 20325 | running | 0 | 155 |
| 6 | 11 | 25 | Ken Schrader | Folger's Coffee (Rick Hendrick) | Chevrolet | 200 | 16000 | running | 3 | 155 |
| 7 | 35 | 55 | Phil Parsons | Crown Petroleum (Leo Jackson / Richard Jackson) | Oldsmobile | 200 | 14150 | running | 0 | 146 |
| 8 | 4 | 17 | Darrell Waltrip | Tide (Rick Hendrick) | Chevrolet | 199 | 15450 | running | 1 | 147 |
| 9 | 28 | 29 | Cale Yarborough | Hardee's (Cale Yarborough) | Oldsmobile | 199 | 9700 | running | 1 | 143 |
| 10 | 12 | 12 | Mike Alexander | Miller High Life (Stavola Brothers) | Buick | 199 | 15950 | running | 0 | 134 |
| 11 | 31 | 26 | Ricky Rudd | Quaker State (Kenny Bernstein) | Buick | 199 | 10425 | running | 0 | 130 |
| 12 | 10 | 8 | Bobby Hillin Jr. | Miller High Life (Stavola Brothers) | Buick | 199 | 9950 | running | 0 | 127 |
| 13 | 21 | 88 | Buddy Baker | Red Baron Frozen Pizza (Buddy Baker / Danny Schiff) | Oldsmobile | 198 | 9500 | running | 1 | 129 |
| 14 | 13 | 6 | Mark Martin | Stroh's Light (Jack Roush) | Ford | 198 | 7050 | running | 0 | 121 |
| 15 | 29 | 2 | Ernie Irvan | Kroger (D.K. Ulrich) | Chevrolet | 198 | 6250 | running | 0 | 118 |
| 16 | 26 | 31 | Joe Ruttman | Slender You Figure Salons (Bob Clark) | Oldsmobile | 198 | 6250 | running | 0 | 115 |
| 17 | 32 | 10 | Ken Bouchard | Whitcomb Racing (Bob Whitcomb) | Ford | 197 | 4675 | running | 0 | 112 |
| 18 | 39 | 71 | Dave Marcis | Lifebuoy (Dave Marcis) | Chevrolet | 197 | 7500 | running | 0 | 109 |
| 19 | 20 | 75 | Neil Bonnett | Valvoline (Rahmoc Enterprises) | Pontiac | 197 | 10985 | running | 0 | 106 |
| 20 | 41 | 98 | Brad Noffsinger | Sunoco (Mike Curb) | Buick | 196 | 4420 | running | 0 | 103 |
| 21 | 6 | 7 | Alan Kulwicki | Zerex (Alan Kulwicki) | Ford | 195 | 6725 | running | 0 | 100 |
| 22 | 37 | 96 | Dana Patten | U.S. Chrome (Dana Patten) | Buick | 194 | 3510 | running | 0 | 97 |
| 23 | 30 | 67 | Buddy Arrington | Pannill Sweatshirts (Buddy Arrington) | Ford | 188 | 5375 | running | 0 | 94 |
| 24 | 24 | 43 | Richard Petty | STP (Petty Enterprises) | Pontiac | 186 | 6265 | running | 0 | 91 |
| 25 | 33 | 1 | Dale Jarrett | Port-A-Lube (Hoss Ellington) | Buick | 183 | 3255 | running | 0 | 88 |
| 26 | 7 | 23 | Eddie Bierschwale | Wayne Paging (Don Bierschwale) | Oldsmobile | 174 | 3070 | cylinder | 0 | 85 |
| 27 | 16 | 15 | Brett Bodine | Crisco (Bud Moore) | Ford | 165 | 11610 | engine | 0 | 82 |
| 28 | 34 | 30 | Michael Waltrip | Country Time Lemonade (Chuck Rider) | Pontiac | 158 | 5900 | engine | 0 | 79 |
| 29 | 22 | 83 | Lake Speed | Wynn's / Kmart (Lake Speed) | Oldsmobile | 128 | 3715 | crank | 0 | 76 |
| 30 | 14 | 97 | Rodney Combs | GM Tech Team (Tom Winkle) | Buick | 126 | 2805 | engine | 0 | 73 |
| 31 | 27 | 92 | David Sosebee | Lucky Compton | Ford | 124 | 2750 | ignition | 0 | |
| 32 | 25 | 68 | Derrike Cope | Purolator Filters (Jim Testa) | Ford | 121 | 5410 | clutch | 0 | 67 |
| 33 | 17 | 21 | Kyle Petty | Citgo (Wood Brothers) | Ford | 105 | 9650 | engine | 0 | 64 |
| 34 | 23 | 33 | Morgan Shepherd | Skoal Bandit (Hal Needham) | Chevrolet | 83 | 5275 | engine | 0 | 61 |
| 35 | 3 | 28 | Davey Allison | Havoline (Harry Ranier) | Ford | 70 | 12440 | engine | 23 | 63 |
| 36 | 40 | 52 | Jimmy Means | Eureka Vacuum Cleaners (Jimmy Means) | Pontiac | 51 | 5185 | engine | 0 | 55 |
| 37 | 15 | 44 | Sterling Marlin | Piedmont Airlines (Billy Hagan) | Oldsmobile | 41 | 5150 | engine | 0 | 52 |
| 38 | 8 | 90 | Benny Parsons | Bull's Eye Barbecue Sauce (Junie Donlavey) | Ford | 22 | 5110 | oil pump | 0 | 49 |
| 39 | 36 | 36 | H.B. Bailey | National Motors (H.B. Bailey) | Pontiac | 21 | 2470 | oil leak | 0 | 46 |
| 40 | 38 | 51 | David Simko | Tom Company (Elmer Simko) | Pontiac | 9 | 2450 | engine | 0 | |
| 41 | 19 | 4 | Rick Wilson | Kodak Film (Larry McClure) | Oldsmobile | 2 | 3050 | engine | 0 | 40 |
| Failed to qualify |||||||||||
| POS | NAME | NBR | SPONSOR | OWNER | CAR | | | | | |
| | Connie Saylor | | | | | | | | | |
| | Jay Sommers | | | | | | | | | |
| | J.D. McDuffie | 70 | Rumple Furniture | J.D. McDuffie | Pontiac | | | | | |
| | Jimmy Horton | 80 | | | | | | | | |

### Timeline

Section reference:

## Standings after the race

| Pos | Driver | Points | Differential |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Rusty Wallace | 2145 | 0 |
| 2 | Dale Earnhardt | 2015 | -130 |
| 3 | Bill Elliott | 1995 | -150 |
| 4 | Terry Labonte | 1939 | -206 |
| 5 | Ken Schrader | 1829 | -316 |
| 6 | Geoffrey Bodine | 1814 | -331 |
| 7 | Sterling Marlin | 1808 | -337 |
| 8 | Phil Parsons | 1762 | -383 |
| 9 | Darrell Waltrip | 1734 | -411 |
| 10 | Bobby Hillin Jr. | 1723 | -422 |
