He finished third in the final points standings behind Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace. Earnhardt was racing against Ricky Rudd for the win at North Wilkesboro with a handful of laps to go. Earnhardt went for the win. The drivers collided and both of them spun, giving the win to Geoff Bodine. Earnhardt finished twelfth instead of second, which eventually was his downfall he finished second to Rusty Wallace by 12 points.
He had something to prove after letting the Winston Cup title slip out of his grasp. The season started with another disappointing result in the Daytona Speed Week started auspiciously with victories in the Budweiser Shootout and his heat of the Gatorade Twin 's. Near the end of the , he had a 4-second lead when the final caution flag came out with a handful of laps to go. When the green flag came out, Earnhardt was leading journeyman driver Derrike Cope. On the last lap, Earnhardt ran over a piece of debris coming out of Turn 3, cutting a tire down.
Cope, in a stunning upset, won the race the first of only two Cup wins in Cope's career while Earnhardt held on to finish 5th. The 3 Goodwrench Chevy team took the tire that cost them the win and mounted it on the wall of their shop to motivate themselves for the rest of the season. Apparently, this motivational strategy worked, because Earnhardt won nine races this season. He also won his 4th Winston Cup title, beating out Mark Martin by just 26 points. He would score just 4 wins, but he took the title by points over Ricky Rudd.
One of the biggest highlights of the season for Earnhardt was scoring the win at North Wilkesboro , stealing the thunder of Harry Gant , who had tied Earnhardt's mark of 4 consecutive wins and was going for a 5th but lost the brakes late in the run, giving Earnhardt the chance he needed to take the win and end Gant's streak. Ford's new engine and body package for their Thunderbird dominated, winning 13 consecutive races from the end of the season into the first nine races of Unfortunately for Earnhardt, he happened to be driving a Chevy.
Earnhardt's lone win of the season came at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the prestigious Coca-Cola , ending the race win streak for the Ford teams. Earnhardt would finish a career-low 12th in the points for the 2nd time in his career, and the only time he had been that low since coming to RCR. Longtime crew chief Kirk Shelmerdine left at the end of the year to become a driver.
Andy Petree took over as crew chief. Earnhardt once again came close to a win at the Daytona , dominating throughout Speedweeks before finishing 2nd to Dale Jarrett on a last-lap pass. Earnhardt would score 6 wins en route to his 6th Winston Cup title, including wins in such prestigious races as the Coca-Cola , the Winston All-Star race and the Pepsi at Daytona.
Earnhardt defeated his friend and rival Rusty Wallace for the championship by just 80 points. Earnhardt showed them they were wrong. Once again, Earnhardt was a model of consistency, scoring only 4 wins, but winning the title by over points over Mark Martin. This proved to be the last season title of his career. He would win 5 races in , including his first career road course victory at Sears Point and the prestigious Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway , a win he called the biggest of his career at the time.
But in the end, he once again came up short of the historic 3-peat, losing the title to Jeff Gordon by just 34 points. In , he showed us why. Earnhardt had his now-legendary Daytona luck, winning the pole for the Daytona and dominating Speedweeks again before finishing 2nd to Dale Jarrett for the 2nd time. Earnhardt won early in the year, scoring back to back victories at Rockingham Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Coming to Talladega Superspeedway , he was leading the points looking for his 8th title despite the departure of Andy Petree as crew chief. David Smith had taken the reigns of the crew chief role in A horrific accident at the track appeared to have ended his season early, let alone his title hopes. But in true Earnhardt fashion, Dale refused to sit out and raced every weekend.
He had to let Mike Skinner NASCAR take the wheel the first week after the accident at Indianapolis, but Earnhardt didn't like the taste of that and the following weekend at Watkins Glen he won the pole and refused to get out of the car, dominating most of the race before fatigue from his injuries caused him to slow down in which he wound up 6th.
Earnhardt would not win again in , but he still finished 4th in the standings behind Terry Labonte , Jeff Gordon , and Dale Jarrett.
The lone win of the season came during Speedweeks at Daytona in the Twin mile qualifying race, his record 8th straight win in the event. Once again in the hunt for the Daytona with 10 laps to go, Earnhardt was taken out of the Daytona by a late crash which sent his car flipping down the backstretch.
Earnhardt would hit the low point of the year when he would black out early in the Mountain Dew Southern in Darlington , causing him to hit the wall and scaring onlookers and fans.
He would go to the hospital and be cleared to race, but had no idea what caused the blackout. He started Speedweeks by winning his Twin mile qualifier race, then fielded questions from the media about his inability to win the race thus far. On race day, Dale showed himself to be one of the contenders early, leading for long periods of time. But halfway through, it seemed that Jeff Gordon had the upper hand.
But by lap , Earnhardt had taken the lead, and thanks to a push by teammate Mike Skinner on lap on the restart, he would not lose it. Earnhardt beat Bobby Labonte to the line to take the checkered flag in the race.
Afterward, there was a large show of respect for Earnhardt, in which every crew member of every team lined pit road to slap his hand as he made his way to Victory Lane. Earnhardt then spoke about the victory, saying "I have had a lot of great fans and people behind me all through the years and I just can't thank them enough.
The Daytona is over. And we won it! We won it! The results seemed to improve, as Earnhardt climbed back to 8th in the final standings. Everyone had started talking about Earnhardt's age and thinking that with his son Dale Jr. Dale set out to prove them wrong, and did so with ease, scoring the sweep at Talladega Superspeedway. He also has 13 pole positions and eight non-points wins five in the Daytona qualifying Duel, two in the Clash and one All-Star Race victory.
Even though he was sidelined for the second half of the season with a concussion, Earnhardt still managed to find success, scoring a victory in his preseason Daytona qualifying Duel and earning four runner-up finishes through the first 18 races. He follows his legendary father Dale Earnhardt Sr.
In October , Earnhardt Sr. Until , Earnhardt Jr. JR Motorsports employs more than people and fields four full-time entries in the Xfinity Series, in addition to two late model stock cars competing regionally in the Southeast. William Byron added a second Xfinity Series title to the team's stable in With that team, Earnhardt was co-owner of the and Xfinity Series championship teams with driver Martin Truex Jr. His two championships, in and , introduced him to the NASCAR history books, and his accomplishments throughout the ensuing decade reinforced his place.
On July 2, , Earnhardt scored a popular victory at Daytona International Speedway in a throwback blue-and-yellow No. On April 23, , Earnhardt Jr. With crossover appeal that stretches beyond his accomplishments as an athlete in NASCAR, Earnhardt continues to garner media attention worldwide. The live telecast on ABC was watched by Only one other time in his career did Earnhardt have a bigger points margin.
That was , when he finished points up on Bill Elliott Photo courtesy of Jamey Price. In , the Kannapolis, North Carolina, native set personal bests with 11 victories, 3, laps led and an average finish of 5. In his final championship year of , Earnhardt only won four times, but was remarkably consistent, finishing in the top five 20 times in 31 races and the top 10 a total of 25 times.
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