» The Short Tracks

» The One Mile Ovals

» The Speedways

» The Super Speedways

» The Road Courses

The Short Tracks

Bristol, Martinsville, Nashville*, North Wilkesboro*, Richmond 

(*tracks not longer active)

Dale's first victory came at the Bristol Motor Speedway in 1979 after only 16 starts.

Daytona and Talladega made him famous, but Dale built his legend on NASCAR's short tracks. He had more wins (27) and laps led (10,736) on Winston Cup bullrings than on any other track type in his career.
In the beginning, there was Bristol Motor Speedway, which gave birth to Dale's reputation for toughness and uncommon skill. 

He won his first two starts at the 0.533-mile Tennesse track, remarkable considering its renown for chewing up rookie drivers. 

The legend grew at Martinsville in the fall of 1980 when Dale outlasted Cale Yarborough and somehow managed to win a caution- filled race. That improbale victory boosted him to his first Winston Cup championship in 1980. At Nashville and North Wilkesboro, Dale Earnhardt proved he belonged with the sport's short track greats. 

He (Dale) broke the Yarborough-Waltrip stranglehold at Nashville to claim two victories. Defining dominance, he finished in the Top 10 in 90% of his 36 North Wilkesboro starts; a track record.
The short tracks also solidified Dale's win-at-all-costs "Intimidator" immage. At Richmond in 1986, he wrecked race leader Darrell Waltrip with three laps to go. NASCAR reacted by fining Dale $ 5,000, placing him under $ 10,000 bond and putting him on probation. 
At Bristol in 1985 in the Valleydale 500 he lost in the lap 100 the power steering but he drove the car to the first place without power steering in a unequalled perfomance.

Again at Bristol in 1999, Dale Earnhardt came back as "Classic Intimidator", he tapped and spun race leader Terry Labonte on the final lap (Terry had moved Dale in the same lap). Dale clearing his way for victory and igniting a thundering chorus of boos from the crowd of 150,000. 
That was Dale at the short tracks, if he saw a chance to win, he did all to win it...! The 1999 Bristol "Spin and Win" you can read here.In short, without short tracks, there would have been no Dale Earnhardt. His father Ralph, a legend of North Carolina's dirt tracks, would have been proud.

1999 at Bristol. Dale tapped and spun race leader Terry Labonte out of  the race on the final lap.

 The One Mile Ovals

Dover, New Hampshire, Phoenix, Rockingham

Lessons in fender bumping...! Dale and Lake Speed at Rockingham.

NASCAR's one mile ovals mostly escaped Dale's mastery. He tolerated the tracks, knowing a trip to Atlanta or Talladega or Bristol couldn't be far away. 

While he consistently produced victories elsewehere, he finished with just seven wins in 113 starts on the one-milers. Only road courses were stingier in his career.
However, while not his most succesful track type, Dale made history on one-mile racetracks. His most dominating performance ever came in Dover's two races in 1989 when he led 831 of a possible 1,000 competitive laps. 

That effort (at Dover Donws Monstermile) is the most in track history and the third best at a track in the modern era. 
Dale generated similar dominance at Phoenix in 1990. In a timely championship-winning effort, he led the final 262 laps to win the "Checker 500" and assumed the points lead over Mark Martin - a lead he maintained a wreck later at Atlanta to clinch his fourth Winston Cup tilte.

While Rockingham was aconsistent friend-- offering comfort (3 wins, 25 Top 10s) after all of those disappointing Daytona 500s-- he never found consistent groove there.
New Hampshire, meanwhile, was one of those open-wheel tracks NASCAR insisted on adding to the schedule. 

Like the other recently added tracks, Dale never warmed to NHIS; his career ended with no wins in 12 New England starts at New Hampshire.
 

Dale at Dover Downs "Monster- mile". At Dover he is first in points (15,405).

 The Speedways

Atlanta, Charlotte, Darlington, Homestead, Las Vegas, Texas

In 2000 at Atlanta Speedway Dale Earnhardt edges Bobby Labonte by .010 secs the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500.

NASCAR's six Speedways can be broken into two groups; the new and the venerable. Dale acceleated his career on the venerable tracks and struggled on the new ones. At Atlanta, Dale's career is literally without equal. 

He is the track's greatest modern-era driver, wether measured by wins, Top 5s, Top 10s, laps led, races led, total points, avergae finish, lead-lap finishes or money won. Similary, at Darlington, only the great driver David Pearson has more wins all-time on the egg-shaped track. Charlotte, meanwhile, was considered Dale's home track.

He won five times Winston Cup races and 3 times the "Winston" there and ran his first Winston Cup race in the 1975 World 600; 24 years later, his son, Dale Jr. launched his career at Charlotte in the renamed Coca-Cola 600.

At the newer speedways, Dale struggled to make his mark. He did not win in his nine starts at Homestead, Las Vegas and Texas and, incredibly, led just one of more than 2,500 competitive laps. 

Considering his greatness at Atlanta, Dale's record at Texas will forever baffle his fans. Despite being similar to Atlanta size, shape and banking, Dale never led a lap or finished higher than sixth.

Texas did produce one special moment, however: his son's first Winston Cup victory. At Charlotte he (Dale Sen.) made history. One example is the Coca-Cola 600 in 1993. 

Twice Dale was penalized, once for breaking the rules, once for being a bad boy. Total assessment was about a lap and a half, maybe 2 laps. Two to 3 miles. Twice, he had to make up an entire circuit of the 1.5 mile oval just to be up with the leaders, and twice he did it. Dale doesn't just drive, he races. At the end of the "600" he won it.

The 1987 "Winston" is another example for his performance. Take a look into the page "The Pass In The Grass".

Dale won at Charlotte 5 Winston Cup races and 3 times the "Winston All Star Game" (picture of the 1995 Winston).

 The Super Speedways

California, Daytona, Indianapolis, Michigan, Ontario CA*, Pocono, Talladega, 

Texas World* (*tracks not longer active)

Daytona 1998. Finally Dale won at Daytona Int. Superspeedway NASCAR's Superbowl, the "Daytona 500".

My personally most loved tracks, the superspeedways like Talladega and Daytona. Coupled with Dale's short track bullying, NASCAR's superspeedways defined Dale Earnhardt as a racer. His reputation for toughness and fearlessness was born on the Winston Cup series' longest and fastest racetracks. 

Dale's ability to thrive under the pressure of high-speed, nose-to-tail racing and his ability to walk away from spectacular wrecks- (like the 1996 "ride of hell" or the 1998 big one with Bill Elliott, both at Talladega or the 1997 flip at Daytona)- gave him an aura of invincibility.
In particular, the advent of restrictor-plate racing in 1988 created stages (at Daytona and Talladega) on which Dale gave command performances. 

The famous Earnhardt myth--that he could see the air, that he could see the draft--took hold on these tracks; he did nothing--in interviews or in his car--to discourage the legend.
On modern era superspeedways, no driver has won more, finished in the Top 5 or Top 10 more often, or led races as frequently as Dale Earnhardt. 
Without question, his best all-time track was Talladega, bettering even Bristol, Atlanta and Darlington. He won on the 2.66-mile track 10 times Winston Cup races, more than twice as many times as anyone else.Dale owns Talladega. In 1990 and 1999 he won both races (the spring and fall races) at NASCAR's biggest superspeedway- and in 2000 he comes like a slingshot from 17th spot in the last four laps up to the front and won the Winston 500. The Winston 500 in 2000 stacks up as one of the Earnhardt's most exciting wins.
Daytona, especially the preseason Speed Weeks events, produced huge successes in his career (in example 11 Daytona 500 qualifying race victories). Two times he won the Pepsi 400 at Daytona and after 19 years of trying finally he won the Daytona 500.

The other superspeedways also contributed to Dale's greatness. His 1979 wreck at Pocono knocked him out of racing for a month--then established his toughness when he returned earlier than advised. 

Dale's 1995 Brickyard 400 victory at the open-wheel Mecca--Indianapolis--was another milestone. The old Ontario, Calif., track didn't contribute to his win column, but it was the track where he clinched his rookie-of-the-year title in 1979 and his first Winston Cup title in 1980.

Dale passes Jeff Gordon at the Winston 500 in 2000, the most incredible race Dale ever drove at Talladega.

 The Road Courses

Riverside*, Sears Point, Watkins Glen (*tracks not longer active)

Watkins Glen 1996. Broken sternum, broken collarbone; broken track record!! Two weeks after the big wreck at Talladega Dale won the pole with track record of 120.733 mph.

One of the great quests of Ernhardt's career came on the road courses. Like the Daytona 500, he excelled for many seasons before finally getting a well-diserved victory. 

Not until his 36th road course start--the 1995 Sears Point race--did he finally claim that coveted victory. 
But if Dale was not great on the road courses, he was consistently good. He finished with 31 Top 10s in 47 starts--tops in the modern era. 

On the series' current road courses--Sears Point and Watkins Glen--he completed 99.6% of all possible laps, finishing off the lead lap only one time. 
Though qualifying was never his strength anywhere, the raod courses were relatively fertile ground for Earnhardt poles. Percentage-wise, he won more of his 22 career poles on road courses than any other track type. 

Two of his raod-course qualifying feats were memorable: his 1979 pole at Riverside was the first of his career. 

In 1996, he won the pole at Watkins Glen just 14 days after his terrible Talladega wreck. Broken sternum and collarbone, suffered in the wreck at Talladega, didn't stop Dale to set a record at Watkins Glen. 120.733 mph was the new track record. 

Dale said: "When you're going after something like we were qualifiying, you're focused on that. You don't feel the pain as much. 
As I went across the finish line and relaxed, the pain was there. It's hard to breathe. I'm short of breath....It feels good to relax, but it hurts. It's a good hurt...!"

 

Dales 600th start  came in 1999 at Watkins Glen. He bumped his own teammate Mike Skinner and the day ended for Dale in lap 90 in the padding of turn 11.