The 1988 Atlanta Journal 500 was the 29th and final stock car race of the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 29th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, November 20, 1988, before an audience of 70,000 in Hampton, Georgia, at Atlanta International Raceway, a permanent asphalt quad-oval intermediate speedway. The race took the scheduled 328 laps to complete.

For the battle of the race's victory, Blue Max Racing's Rusty Wallace managed to dominate a majority of the race, leading 166 laps en route to his tenth career NASCAR Winston Cup Series and his sixth and final victory of the season, earning the maximum points possible for a driver to gain in a race. To fill out the top three, Ranier-Lundy Racing's Davey Allison and Stavola Brothers Racing's Mike Alexander finished second and third, respectively.

In the battle for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship, championship leader Bill Elliott was able to defend his lead in the championship, needing an 18th place or better finish in order to guarantee the championship. While Elliott was not a contender for the race's victory, suffering numerous problems during the race, he was able to maintain a consistent position running around 11th-15th position, finishing 11th to secure the championship, winning the championship over Wallace by 24 points.

The race was the final start for 3-time Winston Cup champion Cale Yarborough, who managed to round out his driving career with a Top 10 finish.

Background

Atlanta International Raceway is a 1.522-mile race track in Hampton, Georgia, United States, 20 miles (32 km) south of Atlanta. It has annually hosted NASCAR Winston Cup Series stock car races since its inauguration in 1960.

The venue was bought by Speedway Motorsports in 1990. In 1994, 46 condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track. In 1997, to standardize the track with Speedway Motorsports' other two intermediate ovals, the entire track was almost completely rebuilt. The frontstretch and backstretch were swapped, and the configuration of the track was changed from oval to quad-oval, with a new official length of where before it was . The project made the track one of the fastest on the NASCAR circuit.

Entry list

(R) - denotes rookie driver.

#DriverTeamMakeSponsor1Dale JarrettEllington RacingBuickPort-A-Lube, Bud Light2Ernie Irvan (R)U.S. RacingChevroletKroger3Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevroletGM Goodwrench Service4Rick WilsonMorgan–McClure MotorsportsOldsmobileKodak04Bill MeachamMeacham RacingOldsmobileMeacham Racing5Geoff BodineHendrick MotorsportsChevroletLevi Garrett6Mark MartinRoush RacingFordStroh Light7Alan KulwickiAK RacingFordZerex8Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuickMiller High Life9Bill ElliottMelling RacingFordCoors Light10Ken Bouchard (R)Whitcomb RacingFordWhitcomb Racing11Jerry ChurchillChurchill RacingOldsmobileChurchill Racing11Terry LabonteJunior Johnson & AssociatesChevroletBudweiser12Mike AlexanderStavola Brothers RacingBuickMiller High Life14A. J. FoytA. J. Foyt RacingOldsmobileCopenhagen15Brett BodineBud Moore EngineeringFordCrisco16Larry PearsonPearson RacingChevroletChattanooga Chew17Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevroletTide20Alan RussellRussell RacingChevroletRussell Racing21Kyle PettyWood Brothers RacingFordCitgo23Eddie BierschwaleB&B RacingOldsmobileWayne Paging25Ken SchraderHendrick MotorsportsChevroletFolgers26Ricky RuddKing RacingBuickQuaker State27Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiacKodiak28Davey AllisonRanier-Lundy RacingFordTexaco, Havoline29Cale YarboroughCale Yarborough MotorsportsOldsmobileHardee's30Michael WaltripBahari RacingPontiacCountry Time31Jim SauterBob Clark MotorsportsOldsmobileSlender You Figure Salons33Harry GantMach 1 RacingChevroletSkoal Bandit34Rodney CombsAAG RacingBuickFab Detergent36H. B. BaileyBailey RacingPontiacAlmeda Auto Parts43Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiacSTP44Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobilePiedmont Airlines48Don HumeHylton MotorsportsFordHylton Motorsports50Bobby CoyleDingman Brothers RacingPontiacDingman Brothers Racing52Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiacEureka55Phil ParsonsJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobileSkoal, Crown Central Petroleum57Morgan ShepherdOsterlund RacingBuickValvoline64Brad TeaguePotter RacingChevroletHardy Chevrolet68Derrike CopeTesta RacingFordPurolator70J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiacRumple Furniture71Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevroletLifebuoy73Joe RuttmanBarkdoll RacingFordBarkdoll Racing75Neil BonnettRahMoc EnterprisesPontiacValvoline80Jimmy Horton (R)S&H RacingFordS&H Racing83Lake SpeedSpeed RacingOldsmobileWynn's, Kmart88Greg SacksBaker-Schiff RacingOldsmobileRed Baron Frozen Pizza90Benny ParsonsDonlavey RacingFordBull's-Eye Barbecue Sauce92David SosebeeLC RacingBuickLC Racing93Charlie BakerSalmon RacingChevroletSalmon Racing95Slick JohnsonSadler Brothers RacingChevroletSadler Brothers Racing97Tommy EllisWinkle MotorsportsBuickAC Spark Plug98Brad Noffsinger (R)Curb RacingBuickSunoco

Qualifying Qualifying was split into two rounds. The first round was held on Friday, November 18, at 2:00 PM EST. Each driver had 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 19, at 10:30 AM EST. As with the first round, each driver had one lap to set a time. For this specific race, positions 21-40 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.

Rusty Wallace, driving for Blue Max Racing, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 30.525 and an average speed of in the first round.

11 drivers failed to qualify.

Full qualifying results Pos.#DriverTeamMakeTimeSpeed127Rusty WallaceBlue Max RacingPontiac30.525179.49923Dale EarnhardtRichard Childress RacingChevrolet30.875177.464315Brett BodineBud Moore EngineeringFord30.925177.177412Mike AlexanderStavola Brothers RacingBuick30.934177.125526Ricky RuddKing RacingBuick30.944177.06865Geoff BodineHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet30.977176.880725Ken SchraderHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet30.992176.794844Sterling MarlinHagan RacingOldsmobile31.105176.152911Terry LabonteJunior Johnson & AssociatesChevrolet31.109176.129106Mark MartinRoush RacingFord31.142175.9421183Lake SpeedSpeed RacingOldsmobile31.164175.818127Alan KulwickiAK RacingFord31.174175.7621317Darrell WaltripHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet31.203175.599144Rick WilsonMorgan–McClure MotorsportsOldsmobile31.215175.5311523Eddie BierschwaleB&B RacingOldsmobile31.246175.3571664Brad TeaguePotter RacingChevrolet31.249175.3401757Morgan ShepherdOsterlund RacingPontiac31.335174.8591875Neil BonnettRahMoc EnterprisesPontiac31.349174.7811955Phil ParsonsJackson Bros. MotorsportsOldsmobile31.351174.770Failed to lock in Round 12043Richard PettyPetty EnterprisesPontiac30.903177.3032121Kyle PettyWood Brothers RacingFord31.041176.5152233Harry GantMach 1 RacingChevrolet31.090176.2372328Davey AllisonRanier-Lundy RacingFord31.102176.1692414A. J. FoytA. J. Foyt RacingOldsmobile31.170175.7842568Derrike CopeTesta RacingFord31.221175.4972629Cale YarboroughCale Yarborough MotorsportsOldsmobile31.335174.8592716Larry PearsonPearson RacingChevrolet31.353174.7582830Michael WaltripBahari RacingPontiac31.393174.536299Bill ElliottMelling RacingFord31.408174.452302Ernie Irvan (R)U.S. RacingPontiac31.435174.3033197Tommy EllisWinkle MotorsportsBuick31.444174.2533280Jimmy Horton (R)S&H RacingFord31.448174.2303390Benny ParsonsDonlavey RacingFord31.457174.181341Dale JarrettEllington RacingBuick31.463174.1473598Brad Noffsinger (R)Curb RacingBuick31.493173.9823634Rodney CombsAAG RacingBuick31.501173.9373752Jimmy MeansJimmy Means RacingPontiac31.513173.871388Bobby Hillin Jr.Stavola Brothers RacingBuick31.532173.7663936H. B. BaileyBailey RacingPontiac31.594173.425Provisionals4071Dave MarcisMarcis Auto RacingChevrolet31.742172.6174131Jim SauterBob Clark MotorsportsOldsmobile32.607168.038Forced to start at rear4288Greg SacksBaker–Schiff RacingOldsmobile31.389174.558Failed to qualify4348Don HumeHylton MotorsportsFord -* -*4493Charlie BakerSalmon RacingChevrolet -* -*4573Joe RuttmanBarkdoll RacingFord -* -*4650Bobby CoyleDingman Brothers RacingPontiac -* -*4711Jerry ChurchillChurchill RacingOldsmobile -* -*4895Slick JohnsonSadler Brothers RacingChevrolet -* -*4920Alan RussellRussell RacingChevrolet -* -*5092David SosebeeLC RacingBuick -* -*5170J. D. McDuffieMcDuffie RacingPontiac -* -*5210Ken Bouchard (R)Whitcomb RacingPontiac -* -*5304Bill MeachamMeacham RacingOldsmobile -* -*Official first round qualifying resultsOfficial starting lineup

Race results