Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Dale Jr. was born on October 10, 1974 and has become one of the most popular stars in the industry. The one thing that separates Jr. from his dad is that Jr. completed school and got his diploma where Dale Sr. didn't. In a line from his book, "Driver 8", Dale talks about the day he got his diploma and his dad wasn't there to see it how he wanted to shove his diploma in his dad's face and say "There...I got one and you don't."

Jr.'s racing career began when he was 17 years old, racing the local short tracks in Kannapolis and Concord, NC. His first career start in the NASCAR Busch Series came in 1996 at Myrtle Beach, SC., where he started 7th and finished 14th. In 1997, he ran a limited Busch Series schedule to gain experience for when he was ready to make a full commitment to the series

1998 was Little E's 1st full year in the Busch Series. He drove the #3 ACDelco sponsored Chevy for Dale Earnhardt Inc., which was owned by his father Dale Earnhardt Sr. He got a real wake-up call in the season's 1st race at Daytona, in which he ending flipping up in the air down the backstrech and crashing out. When the series rolled into Texas on April 4, he came a Busch Series winner when he took his 1st career win. He went to win 6 more races that year to finish with 7 wins, 3 poles, 16 top-5's, 22 top-10's and the NASCAR Busch Series Championship.

The following year, Dale returned to the blue & white #3 to defend his Busch Championship. Took a little bit before he got his "groove" on, when he did, he proceeded to win three races in a row (Dover, South Boston, and Watkins Glen). He finish the year with 6 wins and his second consecutive Busch Series Championship. During the year, he made five starts in the NASCAR Winston Cup series driving the #8 (in honor of his grandfather, Ralph Earnhardt) Budweiser Chevy for DEI. He's debut was at Charlotte Motor Speedway, started 12th and finished 21st. Got his first career top-10 finish at the fall Richmond race where he finished 10th (best finish out of his 5 starts).

2000 was Jr.'s rookie year in NASCAR's top division, the Winston Cup Series. Qualified 8th and finished 13th in the season opening Daytona 500. We won his 1st Winston Cup race in his 12th start at, off all places, Texas (where he won his 1st Busch Series win). He went on to win another races, the spring Richmond race, Spring race at Bristol in 2001 © AP and become the 1st rookie in history to win the Winston All-Star race at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Charlotte. Sadly, Little E couldn't do what his dad did in 1979, that's win the Rookie of The Year title. A bad second half of the season let Jr. finish second in the rookie race to Matt Kenseth by 42 points. He finished the year with 2 wins, 2 Bud poles, 3 top-5's, 4 top-10's, and finished 16th in the final points standings.

2001 was like night and day for Dale Jr. He started of the season good by finishing second behind his teammate Michael Waltrip in the Daytona 500, but he also lost his hero and his father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., who was running behind the two and protecting their lead. The rest of the 1st half of the season wasn't good to Little E. The second race following his dad's death, he crashed out before even completing the 1st lap and every race following that, there were tributes to his late father. Some took a toll on him, while others reminded him of just what kind of person his dad was. Problems just plagued the Bud crew until the teams went back to Daytona. When the Bud crew got there, Jr. was ready and pumped...and it showed on the track. He led a race-high 110 laps and, just an exact opposit of the 500 finish, beat Michael to the checkered flag. Little E was triumphant when the series returned to Daytona in July '01 © AP He won 2 more races (Dover and Talladega) to finish with 3 wins, 2 poles, 11 top-5's, 16 top-10's, and finished 8th in the point standings.

2002 was kinda like last year. Come into Daytona, he was a heavy favorite to win the race and a final tribute to his dad. But just like his dad, it wasn't meant to be. 20 laps into the race, a piece of metal from Michael Waltrip's car came off and cut Dale's right front tire down. After some good repair work on the nose, he came back out and was running back in the top 10. Towards the end of the race, Jr. got caught up in "The Big One", which included about 17 other cars. His only wins came at Talladega where he swept both races and just missed finishing in the top 10 point standings.

Well, 2003 has come and gone, and with no championship. Jr. finished 3^rd in the final Winston Cup Standings with two wins (Talladega and Phoenix).

2004 was Dales was probably his best year in Cup racing. The season started of with a bang with a win in the Daytona 500. It only took Jr. 5 years to win his first 500 where as it took his father 20 years to get his first Daytona Jr and Tony Eury, Sr. celebrating in Victory Lane at the 2004 Daytona 500. © AP 500. and to add a nice little touch to it, both Jr.s with and his dad win came on the same date, February 15. Jr. went on to win 5 more races and was apart of the inaugural Nextel Chase for The Championship. He took the lead in the chase after his win at Talladega, but after saying the "s" word on line tv, NASCAR docked him 25 points and dropped him to second and he was never able to recover. He finished 5^th in the final standings.