Earnhardt also enjoyed strong second-place runs at Richmond and Martinsville, tracks where he'd struggled through the late ' 90s.

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

The county is also home to several major race shops, including Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports, and Earnhardt Ganassi Racing in Concord, Stewart-Haas Racing in Kannapolis, and JTG Daugherty Racing and Wood Brothers Racing in Harrisburg.

Concord is the home to Charlotte Motor Speedway, a NASCAR Research and Development Office ( which also is the headquarters for research for touring and sportscar racing operations ), and several professional race teams, including Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports, and Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.

** 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.

Kraft and Nabisco sponsored a part-time Sprint Cup effort in car # 81 driven by Jason Keller and John Andretti and fielded by Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Nabisco also sponsored Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the 2010 Subway Jalapeño 250 at Daytona International Speedway in July, 2010 with their Oreo / Ritz brand's and Tony Stewart with the Ritz brand in the 2010 DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway in 2010.

In September 2002, Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran ( and won in ) a special Gossamer paint scheme at Richmond International Raceway during the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 weekend in which he and his brother Kerry ran Looney Tunes cars ( Kerry ran a Yosemite Sam car, who was also on Mike Skinner's Winston Cup car the next night ) in the Busch Series race, and nine drivers ( Skinner, Terry Labonte, Jeff Gordon crashed his Bugs Bunny car in final practice for the race and, therefore, the Bugs car never saw race action, Joe Nemechek, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Green, Robby Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Greg Biffle place of Bobby Hamilton, who was injured in a Truck Series race two days before ran Looney Tunes paint schemes.

Prominent Cup owners Richard Childress, Rick Hendrick, and Jack Roush owned truck teams, and top drivers such as Dale Earnhardt and Ernie Irvan also fielded SuperTrucks for others.

* In 2008, The Chicken was featured in a Sony commercial that also featured Dale Earnhardt, Jr., James Brown and Peyton Manning.

In addition, race winners Dale Earnhardt ( 1995 ), and Bill Elliott ( 2002 ) are also past Cup champions, Earnhardt in ( 1980, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994 ) and Elliott in ( 1988 ).

He is also the older half-brother of Kelly Earnhardt and Taylor Nicole Earnhardt.

He is also the oldest stepson of Teresa Earnhardt.

These seats are also named for leading NASCAR figures, with Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough, and Junior Johnson each having a section of the new seats named for them ; Dale Earnhardt was given a section on top in his memory.

Curb was also a sponsor for Dale Earnhardt during his 1980 Winston Cup championship winning season, and sponsored Darrell Waltrip's # 12 Toyota Tundra in the Craftsman Truck Series, driven by Joey Miller in 2006.

" Bestwick also called Earnhardt, Jr .' s win at the 2004 Daytona 500, saying, " The legacy continues.

He also stars as Ralph Earnhardt, the father of race-car driver Dale Earnhardt, in 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story.

** 3 Doors Down has also been featured on several NASCAR cars before with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in 2008 for the NASCAR Sprint All Star Race and Tony Stewart in the Nationwide Series in 2003 for a race at Michigan International Speedway.

Also mentioned in the scene that Earnhardt finished 4th in the race, Earnhardt finished 8th in his first Daytona 500 start and thus it is also inaccurate.

In NASCAR, the 6-point harness became popular after the death of Dale Earnhardt, who was wearing a five-point harness when he suffered his fatal crash ; as it was first thought that his belt had broken, some teams ordered a six-point harness in response.

2006: After suffering a blown front left tire early in the race that caused some fender damage, Jimmie Johnson passed Dale Earnhardt Jr. with six laps left to win at Indy for the first time, and became only the second driver to win both the Daytona 500, and Brickyard 400 in the same year.

1995 was a dramatic affair as the lead changed 32 times, the most since 1988, and the battle for the lead became a spirited multilap affair between Bobby Labonte, Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, and Sterling Marlin.

* July 28, 2002: Steve Park and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. became entangled exiting turn one, and both cars slammed into the inside wall, causing Park's vehicle to go airborne over the hood of Earnhardt's car and barrel roll.

When Earnhardt the 1998 Daytona 500, during the line of pit crew members congratulating Earnhardt, it was very noticeable that the Winston logo ( the series sponosor from 1971 – 2003 ) covered the NEXTEL letters on the banner, NEXTEL became the series sponsor starting in 2004 before renaming to Sprint.

Other drivers ( notably Dale Earnhardt ) were great friends with members of this group, and while not Alabama residents, these other drivers became associated with the Alabama Gang.

Winning in his third career start, Harvick became the fastest driver to win his first Winston Cup race in the modern era, breaking the record set by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in 2000.

With the win, Harvick also became the sixth of seven drivers to win both the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 joining Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett, Bill Elliott, Jimmie Johnson, and Jamie McMurray .< ref >

Newman also became the second rookie since Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to win The Winston, and beat out Jimmie Johnson for the Rookie of the Year award on the strength of rookie records in top-fives ( 14 ) and top-tens ( 22 ), even though Johnson had more wins.

For 2011, Nadeau became a mentor to truck series rookie Jeffrey Earnhardt, son of Kerry and grandson of Dale.

Earnhardt began racing in 1949, and in 1953 it became his full-time occupation.

Driving with new sponsorship from Lycos, Kenseth won three times and finished second in points to Dale Earnhardt Jr. DeWalt Tools became the sponsor in 1999, with Kenseth getting an additional four wins and a third place finish in points.

" He also had devoted extensive coverage to and was considered a significant influence in the popularity of NASCAR, broadcasting interviews with famous drivers such as Dale Earnhardt well before that sport became what it is today.

He became a full-time driver in the Busch Series in 1995 for Dale Earnhardt, Inc., and after consecutive top-five finishes in the points standings, he made a pair of Cup races for DEI in 1996.

As his team became the # 10 Nesquick / Nestlé Chevy and was rebranded ppc Racing in 2000, Green became the heavy favorite to win the championship after Earnhardt and Matt Kenseth departed for the Winston Cup.

In 1981 Thomas Adger became principal and Kay Earnhardt became the coordinator of the new Communication Magnet.

Having been encouraged to pursue a NASCAR career by Dale Earnhardt, and in September at Dover International Speedway became the first Japanese driver to qualify for a Winston Cup Series points event.

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.

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

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

The 1986 season saw Earnhardt win his second career Winston Cup Championship and the first owner's championship for RCR.

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

In the August race at Michigan International Speedway, Earnhardt led laps late in the race and nearly pulled off his first win on a non-restrictor plate track since 1996.

At the August Bristol race, Earnhardt found himself in contention to win his first short track race since Martinsville in 1995.

On February 3 and 4, 2001, the first time in his career, Earnhardt participated in the Rolex 24 endurance race at Daytona, the event which kicks off Speedweeks at the track.

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

Fans began honoring Earnhardt by holding three fingers aloft on the third lap of every NASCAR Cup race, and the television coverage of NASCAR on Fox and NASCAR on NBC went silent for each third lap from Rockingham to the following year's race there in honor of Earnhardt For the first three weeks after Earnhardt's death, on-track incidents brought out the caution flag on lap three.

Three weeks after Earnhardt's death, Harvick scored his first career Cup win at Atlanta driving a car that had been prepared for Earnhardt.

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 ).

Earnhardt Jr. won the first of those two races, which was the season-opening event at Daytona.

Although Earnhardt was not the first NASCAR driver to die in a wreck, he was arguably more famous than many other drivers that have died.

Examples of this would be the first ever winner of a Nationwide Series race, Dale Earnhardt, and the winner of the most races in Nationwide Series history, Kyle Busch.

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.

Bobby would go on to win his first ever Winston Cup Championship, finishing ahead of Dale Earnhardt by 265 points.

After Earnhardt was killed in the first race of the 2001 season, the company continued its sponsorship with the new driver of Earnhardt's car, Kevin Harvick, through the end of the 2003 season.

Running second on the restart, Davey passed leader Dale Earnhardt on the backstretch and pulled away for his first Winston Cup win.

Stewart earned his first & only win of the season in the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega on October 5 driving for sponsor Subway as his last win on Joe Gibbs Racing ( Stewart then would move to his own racing team Stewart-Haas Racing ) On the final lap Stewart was passed by Regan Smith the rookie of Dale Earnhardt Inc who beat Stewart to the line.