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1991 - The Fifth Championship
Before
the 1984 season, Dale Earnhardt and Ricky Rudd exchanged rides, with
Dale returning to the blossoming Richard Chi In 1991, those two drivers would again be linked, this time as the principal combatans in the Winston Cup points race. Adding texture to the points battle was their somewhat contenious rivalry, fueled two seasons earlier by an incident in the fall race at North Wilkesboro. Rudd and Earnhardt tangled on the last lap in that race, robbing a sure win from Dale and stunting his drive for the championship (which he lost to Rusty Wallace by a mere 12 points).
In
1991, from the second race until season's end, with the exception of a
one-race interlude by Davey Allison, Dale and Rudd occupied the top two
spots in the standings. Dale seized the lead with a victory in the
second race at Richmond, moving up from his 19th starting position. He
gave the points lead
to Rudd at Darlington in early April, but reclaimed it with
a victory at Martinsville and a Throughout their points battle, Dale's largest deficit was 142 points, while the largest his lead got was 195 (the margin at the end of the season).
Besides the two early victories, Dale Earnhardt triumphed at Talladega in July at the DieHard 500. When he topped the field at North Wilkesboro late in the season, his led ballooned from 59 to 112 with four races remaining. Oddly, the turning point in the season came in a race Dale failed to finish at Charlotte.
For just the second time all season, Dale wasn't running at the end of the fall Charlotte race, going out with valve problems after 302 laps. Ricky Rudd, however, couldn't capitalize on Dale's misfortune: he had crashed out on lap 232 and fell 26 points further in debt. Sensing another championship, Dale eased into Top 10 finishes at Rockingham, Phoenix and Atlanta in the final three races of the season. The 1991 title sealed, Dale Earnhardt found himself two championships shy of Richard Petty.
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ldress
Racing Team and its Chevrolet and Rudd taking over Bud Moore's Ford. 
third-place
finish at Talladega in early May.