1988 Miller High Life 400 (June)
| Race details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 14 of 29 in the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season | |||
Layout of Michigan International Speedway
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| Date | June 26, 1988 | ||
| Official name | Miller High Life 400 | ||
| Location | Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Michigan | ||
| Course | Permanent racing facility 2.000 mi (3.218 km) |
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| Distance | 200 laps, 400 mi (643 km) | ||
| Weather | Hot with temperatures approaching 90 °F (32 °C); wind speeds up to 12 miles per hour (19 km/h) | ||
| Average speed | 153.551 miles per hour (247.116 km/h) | ||
| Attendance | 68,000 | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Melling Racing | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Rusty Wallace | Blue Max Racing | |
| Laps | 106 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 27 | Rusty Wallace | Blue Max Racing | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | CBS | ||
| Announcers | Ken Squier, Ned Jarrett, and Chris Economaki | ||
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.
Only manual transmission vehicles were allowed to participate in this race; a policy that NASCAR has retained to the present day.
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.
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 conserving fuel and making as few bad decisions on pit road as possible. Four cautions were given for 15 laps while 13 lead changes were made. The race took more than 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 suffer from an accident; he would crash his vehicle on turn 4 of lap 156.
There was a 41-driver grid of American-born males. Only 25 of these drivers managed to finish 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.
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