Daytona International Speedway is a 2.5-mile permanent oval with banking of 31 degrees in the turns and 18 degrees along the frontstretch. The 1988 race arrived in the immediate wake of NASCAR's decision to mandate the use of restrictor plates at Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway. The plate rule had been introduced in direct response to Bobby Allison's crash at the 1987 Winston 500 at Talladega, where his car went airborne and damaged the catch fencing, injuring spectators. The 1988 Daytona 500 was thus the first major NASCAR race run under the plate rule, ushering in a new era of pack-style superspeedway racing.
Ken Schrader, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, captured the pole position with a qualifying time of 46.434 seconds and an average speed of 193.823 miles per hour (311.928 km/h). The reduced speeds compared to the previous year — when Bill Elliott had set the Daytona qualifying record at 210.364 mph — reflected the immediate effect of the restrictor plate regulation. Twenty-seven drivers failed to qualify for the starting field.
The race ran the scheduled 200 laps. In the closing stages Bobby Allison, at the age of 50, managed to fend off a hard charge by his son Davey Allison. Davey, who was 26 years old and competing for Ranier-Lundy Racing, pressed his father to the finish but came up short. Phil Parsons completed the top three.
The result was remarkable on several levels. Bobby Allison was a veteran of the sport who had won the Daytona 500 previously in 1978 and 1982. His third victory at Daytona came in what would prove to be the final season in which he could compete at full strength; a severe crash later that year at Pocono Raceway left him with traumatic brain injuries that ended his driving career. The 1988 Daytona 500 win thus stood as the capstone of his career.
The race also represented a historic moment for the Allison family and for NASCAR. A father and son finishing first and second in the sport's most prestigious race had not occurred before and has not been repeated since.
The 1988 Daytona 500 is also remembered for a spectacular accident involving Richard Petty on lap 106. Petty was turned by Phil Barkdoll exiting turn four. His car went airborne, tumbled several times, rode along the catch fencing, and scattered debris across the frontstretch. Before coming to rest, Petty was struck broadside by Brett Bodine. Despite the violence of the impact, Petty walked away from the wreck without serious injury, though he experienced temporary vision disruption from the extreme g-forces involved. The crash bore similarities to the Bobby Allison Talladega incident that had prompted the restrictor plate rule, as Petty's car also became airborne despite the plate being in use.
Bobby Allison's win was his 85th and last. The injury he sustained later in 1988 at Pocono made a competitive return impossible, and he was formally retired from full-time racing. The 1988 Daytona 500 was both the final win of his career and one of the emotionally resonant performances of the NASCAR era, combining sporting achievement with a family dimension that the sport rarely sees at its highest level.
The race also confirmed that the restrictor plate formula, while controversial, produced competitive races. Pack drafting at reduced speeds created more opportunity for lead changes than the pure horsepower contests of the pre-plate era, a dynamic that would define superspeedway racing at Daytona and Talladega for decades.