Believe it or not, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Bubba Wallace share at least one thing in common in their respective racing careers: a long winless streak.
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Wallace snapped a 100-race winless streak in this past Sunday’s Brickyard 400. But Junior was even worse: he once went 143 straight Cup races before making a triumphant return to victory lane.
Following a win at Michigan in 2008, Earnhardt would not win again until 2012 — coincidentally, back at Michigan International Speedway, 143 starts later.
“I’ve been in those situations where you have a long dry spell and everybody’s talking sh*t, and that’s when people think you’re overrated,” Earnhardt said on this week’s edition of the Dale Jr. Download podcast. “They come out and they’re all like, ‘Yep, see he’s overrated, man, and he’s getting all this attention.’”
And with each additional race without a win, the criticism grew, with many fans feeling Junior wasn’t worth the attention he was being given, particularly by the TV networks.
“I heard it all through parts of my career,” Junior said. “You know, ‘Dale’s running 20th,’ but that’s all we’re going to see on the broadcast. We’re always going to have these Dale updates about where he’s running 20th.’
“I remember all that, I heard all that, and it wears on you a little bit. So when you finally get back to victory lane, I remember when I won at Michigan, I think it’s 2012. We had had this long dry spell. Jimmie Johnson comes into victory lane as expected, as he always would when his teammate won, and the first thing I said when I saw him is, ‘I’m a winner, man. I can’t believe it.’ And not so much like ‘I’m a winner, man,’ it was more like I AM a winner.”
Wallace questioned his ability several times during his 100-race winless streak. Junior was also the same way in his 143-race winless streak, the longest of his career.
“I had some pretty long dry spells in my career, but you don’t really question you,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “You think about it every now and then, ‘Man, is it really me? Nah, it can’t be me, I’m f*cking good. Yeah, it’s definitely not me. I can drive a car.’”
Will He Truly, Finally Make It To Victory Lane?
Earnhardt Jr. even doubted himself in the closing laps of that 2012 Michigan race. He wondered if he was truly going to win, or whether something would happen, as it had numerous times during his winless streak.
“That was the worst feeling, riding around there with 15 laps to go, wondering what was going to happen — how you were going to lose,” Earnhardt Jr. said at the time. “Those laps couldn’t go by fast enough.”
He beat Tony Stewart by nearly 5.4 seconds, a literal lifetime in NASCAR.
Junior not only thanked his team for helping him to the win, but he also thanked another group of people: his loyal fans.
“They stayed loyal,” he said. “As soon as I got out of the car, that was my initial thought — was about how many people were in their living rooms screaming at the top of their lungs, or running out in the yard, or whatever they do. I just wish I could see it all at once.”
