After Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s death at Daytona in the 2001 season opener, where Dale Earnhardt Jr. had finished runner-up, he appeared adrift for several weeks. In the early stretch of that campaign, Junior faltered at North Carolina with an early crash that left him 43rd, missed the setup at Las Vegas and finished 23rd, suffered a cut tire at Atlanta that dropped him to 15th, and endured rough outings at Darlington and Bristol, winding up 34th and 31st.
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At Texas, however, Junior steadied himself with an eighth-place run, his first top-10 since his father’s passing. He then rode that momentum into two more top-10s and a top-five before returning for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, the very track that had claimed his father, and won there.
“It’s going to be Dale Earnhardt Jr. using lessons learned from his father to go from sixth to first and score the victory.”
Watching this finish still gives us chills. pic.twitter.com/zwMnHazCmM
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 21, 2025
The return had to weigh heavily, given that just months earlier he had raced to a stirring second-place finish in the Daytona 500 while, behind him, the No. 3 Goodwrench Chevrolet slammed head-on between turns three and four.
Rolling off 13th, Junior wasted little time charging forward. By lap 27, the MLB All-Star Budweiser Chevrolet had surged to the front, leading 22 laps. Under that year’s restrictor plate package, cars carried a gurney strip on the roof and a spoiler flare to tighten drafting and encourage passing at Daytona and Talladega.
Those rules usually meant no lead was safe, yet on the night of July 7, not even aerodynamics could keep Junior from controlling the race.
With six laps left on the final restart, the No. 8 sat sixth. Channeling his father, Junior used the draft, seizing every opening, climbing the ladder from sixth to first, and sealing the win with the very tactics Dale Sr. had taught him. Junior dominated the night, pacing 116 of 160 laps, and ultimately fended off teammate Michael Waltrip to the checkered flag by 0.123 seconds.
In victory lane, Junior and Waltrip reveled in their wins. Junior declared his father had been with him throughout the race and dedicated the win to the late Dale Sr.
