By the time the 2000s came to pass, NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt was not competing for championships. However, he still gave fans several incredible moments and one of them came at Talladega in the year 2000.
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The Intimidator made up a whopping 17 places in the space of four laps to take the checkered flag at Talladega Superspeedway. It was one of the greatest recovery drives the world has ever seen, if not the greatest. However, he could not have done it all by himself.
With four laps remaining, the seven-time Cup Series champion found himself in P18 and no one expected him to finish near the front of the pack. However, he had help from behind thanks to two people, Kenny Wallace and Joe Nemechek.
Wallace and Nemechek were teammates then but they did not think about going for the win themselves. Instead, Nemechek pushed Wallace who pushed Earnhardt and helped him drive through the field.
On the final lap, the battle for the win was among Earnhardt, his son, and Mike Skinner. Junior had a moment when he moved too close to the grass and lost his car for a little bit which took him out of the picture.
The Intimidator got ahead of Skinner thanks to a push from Wallace (P2) and took the checkered flag. Nemechek also made his way past the pack and finished in P3, completing an incredible race that still is clear in the memory of several race fans.
“It was wild. I didn’t have any thought that I have a chance of winning this race, starting where I did on that restart. Boy, as we kept working away and got on the outside of Kenny — Kenny Wallace really worked hard with us and he done a good job. I don’t think we could have got back up there without Kenny,” the seven-time Cup Series champion said after the race.
Dale Earnhardt and Kenny Wallace at Talladega Superspeedway 2000. #NASCAR #NASCARPlayoffs @Kenny_Wallace #DaleSr @TALLADEGA pic.twitter.com/zWIcxgKK9I
— NASCAR Pics That Goes Hard (@HardNASCARPics) October 2, 2024
It was The Intimidator’s tenth race win at the Talladega Superspeedway, further solidifying his status as one of the greatest restrictor-plate racers in NASCAR history.
This was also his career’s 76th and final Cup Series race win. Maybe he could have extended that had he not been involved in a horrific wreck at Daytona less than a year later that took his life. Regardless, it was a moment that shocked everyone, even team owner Richard Childress.
“The race fans got the race they deserved today. This is for the race fans. He never gave up,” the RCR boss had said at the time. Indeed, the 170,000-strong crowd at Talladega that day rose in excitement and joy as one of the greatest of all time delivered one of the greatest performances of all time, the likes of which might never be replicated again.
