Dale Earnhardt, Jr. | Dale Earnhardt, Jr .' s Budweiser car in 2007

In 1971, Earnhardt married his second wife, Brenda Gee ( the daughter of NASCAR car builder Robert Gee ), with whom he had a daughter, Kelley King, in 1972, and a son, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., in 1974.

Before the 1999 season, fans began discussing Earnhardt's age and speculating that with his son, Dale Jr. getting into racing, Earnhardt might be contemplating retirement.

The team, which was composed of Earnhardt, Earnhardt, Jr., Andy Pilgrim, and Kelly Collins, finished 4th overall and 2nd in class.

Michael Waltrip won first place in the race, with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in second place.

The carnage resulted in Schrader and Earnhardt, Jr. rushing to Earnhardt, Sr. Earnhardt was extricated from his car and taken to Halifax Medical Center.

In response, Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. absolved Marlin of any responsibility.

* Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Pepsi 400 on July 7, 2001.

Earnhardt, Jr. went on to also win in the fall at Dover and Talladega.

* Earnhardt Jr. later went on to win the 2004 Daytona 500, three years after his father's death and six years to the day after his father won the 1998 Daytona 500.

* Every three years since Earnhardt's death, someone associated with Earnhardt has won the Daytona 500 ( his son Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in 2004, Earnhardt's replacement Cup driver Kevin Harvick in 2007, and Earnhardt Ganassi's Jamie McMurray in 2010.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. made two special appearances in 2002 in a No. 3 Busch Series car: these appearances were at the track where his father died ( Daytona ) and the track where his father made his first Winston Cup start ( Charlotte ).

* 1974 – Dale Earnhardt, Jr., American racecar driver

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the event and celebrates by driving around the track with an American flag out the window.

** Dale Earnhardt, Jr., American race car driver

Ralph Dale Earnhardt, Sr. ( April 29, 1951February 18, 2001 ) was an American race car driver, best known for his involvement in stock car racing for NASCAR.

Considered one of the best NASCAR drivers of all time, Earnhardt won a total of 76 races over the course of his career, including one Daytona 500 victory in 1998.

While driving in the 2001 Daytona 500, Earnhardt died of basilar skull fracture in a last-lap crash at Daytona International Speedway on February 18, 2001.

Earnhardt was born in Kannapolis, North Carolina, on April 29, 1951, to Martha Coleman and Ralph Lee Earnhardt, who was then one of the best short-track drivers in North Carolina.

Although Ralph did not want his son to follow in his footsteps, Earnhardt would not be persuaded to give up his dream of racing, dropping out of school to race.

Ralph was a hard teacher for Earnhardt, and after Ralph died of a heart attack at his home in 1973, it took many years before Earnhardt felt as though he had finally " proven " himself to his father.

Earnhardt had four siblings, Danny, Randy, Cathy, and Kaye.

When Earnhardt was 17, he married his first wife, Latane Brown, in 1968.

Brown gave birth to Earnhardt's first son, Kerry Earnhardt, in 1969.

Earnhardt began his professional career at the Winston Cup in 1975, making his debut at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina in the longest race on the Cup circuit, the World 600.

Earnhardt drove an Ed Negre Dodge Charger (# 8 ) and finished 22nd in the race, one place ahead of his future car owner, Richard Childress.

joined car owner Rod Osterlund Racing, in a season that included a rookie class of future stars – Earnhardt, Harry Gant and Terry Labonte.

In his rookie season, Earnhardt won one race at Bristol, captured four poles, had 11 Top 5 finishes, 17 Top 10 finishes, and finished 7th in the points standings, in spite of missing four races because of a broken collarbone, winning Rookie of the Year honors.

In his sophomore season, Earnhardt, now with 20-year old Doug Richert as his crew chief, began the season winning the Busch Clash.

With wins at Atlanta, Bristol, Nashville, Martinsville, and Charlotte, Earnhardt won his first Winston Cup championship.

To this day, Earnhardt is the only driver in NASCAR Winston Cup history to follow a Rookie of the Year title with a NASCAR Winston Cup Championship the next season.

Stacy, Earnhardt left for Richard Childress Racing, and finished the season 7th in the points standings but winless.

The following year, at Childress ' suggestion, Earnhardt joined car owner Bud Moore for the 1982 and 1983 seasons driving the No. 15 Wrangler Jeans Ford Thunderbird ( Earnhardt's only full-time Ford ride in his career ).

In 1983, Earnhardt rebounded and won his first of 12 Twin 125 Daytona 500 qualifying races.

Earnhardt won at Nashville and at Talladega, finishing eighth in the points standings.

In the process, Earnhardt set a NASCAR modern era record of four consecutive wins and won five of the first seven races.

The following year, Earnhardt won five times, but a late spin out at North Wilkesboro arguably cost him the 1989 championship, as Rusty Wallace edged out Earnhardt for the championship.

Cope, in an upset, won the race while Earnhardt finished fifth.

Earnhardt went on to win nine races this season and won his fourth Winston Cup title, beating Mark Martin by 26 points.

Earnhardt was very consistent, scoring four wins, and after Ernie Irvan was sidelined due to a near-deadly crash at Michigan ( the two were neck-and-neck at the top of the points up until the crash ), won title by over 400 points over Mark Martin.

Earnhardt won early in the year, scoring consecutive victories at Rockingham and Atlanta.

In the final lap of the 2001 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500, Harvick beat Jeff Gordon by. 006 seconds, the same margin that Earnhardt had won over Bobby Labonte at the same race a year prior, and the images of Earnhardt's longtime gas man, Danny " Chocolate " Myers, crying after the victory, Harvick's tire-smoking burnout on the frontstretch with three fingers held aloft outside the driver's window, and the Fox television call by Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds, and Darrell Waltrip, concluding with " Gordon got loose, but he ( Harvick ) is gonna get him though, it's Harvick!

** Daytona 500 – won by Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

** Michael Waltrip won the Daytona 500, a race that also saw the death of seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Dale Earnhardt in an unspectacular crash during the final lap.

** Dale Earnhardt won the Daytona 500

Earnhardt Jr. won four races in a row at Daytona International Speedway with Nabisco sponsorship.

In 1998, Bobby won the pole for the Daytona 500, where he eventually finished 2nd to Dale Earnhardt in Earnhardt's emotional first Daytona 500 win.