1988 Cavalier Z-24 sometimes dies after starting

when my daughter tried starting her Z24, on the first 2 tries it died after starting, on the third try it started and ran fine. Car hasn’t been giving her any trouble until now. Does anyone have an opintion as to what might be wrong?

what engine?
did it just have this problem this one time?

as far as I know it’s happened only once, but my daughter’s now parked it (afraid to drive it and get stranded)

I believe the eng is a 6 cyl 2.8L