1988 Pontiac Excitement 400
The 1988 Pontiac Excitement 400 was the second stock car race of the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 34th iteration of the event. The race was held on Sunday, February 21, 1988, in Richmond, Virginia, at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway, a D-shaped oval. The race took the scheduled 400 laps to complete. Coming back from a two lap deficit, RahMoc Enterprises driver Neil Bonnett would manage to pass for the lead on the final restart with 48 laps left in the race, coming back with the help of a long green flag stint to gain his first lap back, and a period of back-to-back cautions to regain his second lap. Bonnett would manage to lead the final 48 laps to take his 17th career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory and his first victory of the season. The victory was disputed by second place finisher, Ricky Rudd, and his team, King Racing. In an appeal filed by King Racing, the team stated that the three of Rudd, Richard Petty, and Darrell Waltrip all believed that Neil Bonnett had an accidental lap added to his total, with all three insisting that Bonnett had run no more than 399 laps of