The 1988 Daytona 500 was the first stock car race of the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season and the 30th iteration of the event.

In the final laps of the race, Stavola Brothers Racing's Bobby Allison managed to fend off his son, Ranier-Lundy Racing's Davey Allison to the finish to take his 85th and final career NASCAR Winston Cup Series victory, his only victory of the season, and his third Daytona 500 victory.

The standard track at Daytona International Speedway is a four-turn superspeedway that is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long.

The rest of the starting was set in the Twin 125 Qualifiers, held on Thursday, February 11, during two races.

Ken Schrader, driving for Hendrick Motorsports, managed to win the pole, setting a time of 46.434 and an average speed of 193.823 miles per hour (311.928 km/h) in Saturday's session.