Dale Earnhardt won 76 NASCAR Cup Series races in his illustrious career, but a few stand out amidst a mountain of trophies. These are the greatest victories of “The Intimidator’s” NASCAR career.
1984 Talladega 500 – Talladega Superspeedway
Earnhardt would go on to become perhaps the greatest driver to ever traverse the terrifying high banks of Talladega, but his triumph at the 2.66 mile track on July 29, 1984, was a precursor for the rest of his legendary career. After winning the 1980 Winston Cup championship, however, Earnhardt’s career stagnated. He only won three races from 1981 to 1983, but a reunion with Richard Childress – whom Earnhardt had driven for in 1981 – set the stage for one of the gratest driver-car owner pairings in NASCAR history. Earnhardt’s victory on that sweltering Alabama day is remembered as the win that served as the catalyst for a legendary 17-year pairing between Earnhardt and Childress.
1999 Goody’s Headache Powder 500 – Bristol Motor Speedway
Despite Earnhardt’s ictory in the 1998 Daytona 500, the year-and-a-half stretch since had seen Earnhardt seemingly lose his fastball. While he’d found a way to win at Talladega in the ninth race of 1999, he sat seventh in the points standings headed into Race 23 at Bristol. Late in the race, however, Earnhardt found himself bumper-to-bumper with two-time Winston Cup champion Terry Labonte, who had outdueled Earnhardt at Bristol in 1995. On this night, however, Earnhardt simply wouldn’t be denied. Labonte took the white flag as the race leader, but was spun by Earnhardt in turn two. Earnhardt cleared the smoke of Labonte’s spinning Chevrolet to take his second victory of the season. In victory lane, he delivered one of the greatest quotes in NASCAR history: “I didn’t mean to wreck him, (Terry Labonte) I just wanted to rattle his cage a little bit.”
2000 Winston 500 – Talladega Superspeedway
In hindsight, it’s fitting that Earnhardt’s 76th and final NASCAR win came at the track that he mastered like nobody else. Earnhardt won 10 Cup Series races at Talladega, and his greatest performance at the track came in his final start. In the closing laps, Earnhardt found himself in the middle of a snarling pack with nowhere to go. With five laps to go, Earnhardt sat in 18th, and even with a rther conceivable ciestrictor plate package that made passing relatively easy, it was a tall task for Earnhardt to find a way to the front. But, in a way only Earnhardt could, he piloted the No. 3 to the front of the pack. Somehow, some way, Earnhardt pulled into victory lane for the final time in his career after putting on one of the greatest clutch performances in NASCAR history.
1998 Daytona 500 – Daytona International Speedway
As great as Earnhardt was at the superspeedways of Daytona and Talladega, the sport’s biggest prize constantly eluded him. For 19 years, Earnhardt found every way possible to loe the Daytona 500. Seagulls, flat tires, fuel mileage, flips and every other conceivable circumstance kept Earnhardt from victory lane for nearly two decades. That all changed on Feb. 15, 1998, when Earnhardt finally broke through and earned the only Daytona 500 win of his career, holding off Jeremy Mayfield and Bobby Labonte in a finish that brought many of his loyal fans to tears.
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