‘Dale Earnhardt Stepped Over That Line’: When the Intimidator Rubbed NASCAR the Wrong Way

A lot has been said of Austin Dillon’s late move to take the win at Richmond after spinning out the Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin. Some believe it was reminiscent of Dale Earnhardt Sr. and how he used to race back in the day.

Well, the similarities are more pronounced than one might think. In the 1986 Cup Series race at Richmond, The Intimidator’s #3 right rear hooked the #11 car of Darrell Waltrip. That’s exactly what happened last weekend, only the drivers were different this time around. At the time, NASCAR came down hard on the seven-time champion.

“There is a fine line between hard racing and reckless driving, and Earnhardt clearly stepped over that line Sunday. We simply cannot tolerate or condone such actions. We must preserve the integrity of our sport,” the then-NASCAR vice president Bill Gazaway said about the incident.

The Intimidator was fined $5000 (which was a lot at the time) and put on probation for the rest of the year. It was only the second race of the season and Kyle Petty won his career’s first Cup race as a result of the ensuing wreck. Earnhardt could not drive to the finish in P1 despite spinning out the #11 and had to settle for third place along with a reprimand by NASCAR.

It’s not the only time The Intimidator has spun someone out to finish high in a race. He has done it several times in his career. That’s where the comparisons to Dillon came from.

Dillon draws a line between him and Earnhardt after comparisons 

Several people, apart from the media, compared the current driver of the #3 to Earnhardt after the Richmond race. The list includes eminent names in the sport like Kenny Wallace and Jimmie Johnson. However, Dillon has distanced himself from such comparisons, since he doesn’t believe he’s the modern-day Dale Earnhardt. That, according to him, would be Kyle Busch.

“It never crossed my mind to tell you the truth. It happened that way. Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of races with Dale moving guys, pissing people off. A lot of people booed him throughout his career. I think Kyle Busch is the closest thing we’ve had to a Dale Earnhardt Sr. I’m not that. I’m Austin Dillon. I’m just going to try hard,” he told the media,” he explained.

NASCAR has a history of dirty driving and back in the day, the rules were a lot more lenient than today. People still found ways to get into trouble with the sanctioning body. That element of the sport has not changed much since drivers, when desperate, do not hesitate to win by any means necessary.

About the author

Nilavro Ghosh

Nilavro is a NASCAR journalist at The SportsRush. His love for motorsports began at a young age with F1 and spread out to other forms of racing like NASCAR and Moto GP. After earning his post-graduate degree from the Asian College of Journalism in 2020, he has mostly worked as a motorsports journalist. Apart from covering racing, his passion lies in making music primarily as a bass player.

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