Of all the different personalities and stars NASCAR has seen over the years, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has had one of the most interesting careers. But arguably, his greatest moment, his biggest win, came after the biggest tragedy of his life.
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Every NASCAR fan remembers what happened on ‘that’ day in Daytona in 2001. Dale Earnhardt Sr’s tragic passing in helping his son during the Daytona 500 is single-handedly one of the darkest days in the sport.
But a few months from that, Junior produced one of the biggest moments of his career as well as of the sport with his win on the same track his father tragically passed away.
Dale Earnhardt Jr had his historic Pepsi 400 win 22 years ago
It was 22 years ago when Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his first-ever Pepsi 400 at the Daytona International Speedway. Soon after Junior managed to win the race, he climbed on top of his car and embraced Michael Waltrip.
22 years ago TODAY! 🏁 @DaleJr, “using lessons learned from his father,” charged to win at @Daytona. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/D4gIl8tyFJ
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) July 7, 2023
Moreover, Junior had a dominating form during the race. He had led 115 out of 160 laps. Towards the end, as the cars prepared themselves for the final restart, Junior managed to overtake 6 cars over the duration of 2 laps and grabbed the checkered flag.
Meanwhile, his teammate, Waltrip managed to defend Junior from the others as he finished in 2nd place.
What happened to Dale Earnhardt Sr. at the 2001 Daytona 500
The 2001 Daytona 500 was going well for the Earnhardt Inc team. However, fate took a turn for the worst, during the final lap of the race. While Michael Waltrip won his first-ever Daytona 500 race, Junior finished the race in second place. Everything would have been perfect, but a wreck behind them changed NASCAR forever.
Back in turn 4, fellow driver Sterling Marlin contacted Dale Earnhardt Sr’s left rear bumper. That sent the number #3 car up into the outside wall hard. What seemed like any other ordinary wreck, turned out to hold a much grimmer picture.
It was later announced that one of the sport’s greatest drivers, Earnhardt Sr, never made it out of the car alive. The Intimidator was announced to have lost his life due to a basilar skull fracture, which may have resulted because Earnhardt was not wearing a HANS device at the time of the impact.
Just like that, within a blink of an eye, everything changed forever. NASCAR lost its icon, Junior lost his father, and the fans lost an idol.
