One of his wins that year came at North Wilkesboro, in a race where Harry Gant had a chance to set a single-season record by winning his fifth consecutive race, breaking a record held by Earnhardt.

Earnhardt once again came close to a win at the Daytona 500, and dominated Speedweeks before finishing second to Dale Jarrett on a last-lap pass.

A common misconception is that Richard Childress Racing " owns the rights " to the No. 3 in NASCAR competition ( fueled by the fact that Kevin Harvick's car has a little No. 3 as an homage to Earnhardt and the usage of the No. 3 on the Camping World Series truck of Ty Dillon ), but in fact no team owns the rights to this or any other number: However, according to established NASCAR procedures, RCR would have priority over other teams if and when the time came to reuse the number.

It came during a week in which the racing world remembered the fifth anniversary of the death of legend Dale Earnhardt, who died on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

The closest this came to happening was in 2004, when Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won the Gatorade Duel and the Daytona 500, but finished second to Jarrett in the Bud Shootout.

The sole top-ten came in his second place finish to Dale Earnhardt, in the then Winston 500 ( now UAW Ford 500 ) which was Earnhardt's final victory.

The win came 10 years to the day of the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt and his first Sprint Cup Series victory.

Though wanting another caution, the yellow flag never came out because NASCAR wanted to see the race finish under green, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was leading when the accident occurred.

Park came to the NASCAR Winston Cup Series as the driver for the start-up # 1 Pennzoil team of Dale Earnhardt Inc. ( DEI ).

Mike Skinner finished 31st at Rockingham in February, Kirk Shelmerdine ( former crew chief for Dale Earnhardt ) was 26th at Talladega in May, Bob Keselowski was 41st at Pocono in June, and Gary Bradberry came home 30th in the season ending Hooters 500 at Atlanta.

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.

In the 1987 season, Earnhardt earned his nickname " The Intimidator " after spinning out Elliott in the final segment of " The Winston ", a non-points event now known as the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

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.

Video of the crash showed what appeared to be a fatal incident, but once medical workers arrived at the car, Earnhardt climbed out and waved to the crowd, refusing to be loaded onto a stretcher despite a broken collarbone, sternum, and shoulder blade.

Once again in the hunt for the Daytona 500 with 10 laps to go, Earnhardt was taken out of contention by a late crash which sent his car upside down on the backstretch.

Earnhardt hit the low point of his year when he blacked out early in the Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington in September, causing him to hit the wall.

However, poor performances at the road course of Watkins Glen, where he wrecked coming out of the chicane, a wreck with Chad Little while leading the spring race at Bristol, and mid-pack runs at intermediate tracks like Charlotte and Dover in a season dominated by the Ford Taurus in those tracks of Roush, Yates, and Penske, coupled with the extremely consistent Joe Gibb's No. 18 team with Bobby Labonte, denied Earnhardt the coveted eighth championship title.

Special pennants bearing the No. 3 were distributed to everyone at the track to honor Earnhardt, and the Childress team wore blank uniforms out of respect, something which disappeared quickly and was soon replaced by the previous GM Goodwrench Service Plus uniforms.

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.

Oddly, the number 3 was involved in a wreck almost identical to that which took the life of Earnhardt: being spun out, colliding with another vehicle and being turned into the outside wall in turn number four.

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

Similarly, he served as narrator for the 2007 film Dale, about the life of the legendary NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, which turned out to be Newman's final film performance in any form.

In 1989, Wallace won the NASCAR Winston Cup Championship, with crew chief Barry Dodson, by finishing 15th at the Atlanta Journal 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, to beating out close friend and fierce rival Dale Earnhardt who won the race, by twelve points.

Labonte punted Earnhardt out of the lead late in the race and sweated out late green-flag stops for fuel to take the win, his first in Winston Cup.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., trying to break a long winless drought, ran out of gas coming off of turn 4, and Kevin Harvick scored his third win of 2011.

* June 18, 2000: Jeremy Mayfield knocked Dale Earnhardt out of his way to score his third career Winston Cup win.

His teammates Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. were taken out in crashes during the second segment.

* 1987: Bill Elliott ran out of fuel on the final lap, and coasted out of turn 4, allowing Dale Earnhardt to sweep by and take the victory.

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.

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

Wallace states he and Earnhardt had to sit on the backs of their chairs to see and Earnhardt said " This sucks, I could have gone hunting ".

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.

Labonte had four fresh tires and Earnhardt was driving on old tires, which made Earnhardt's car considerably slower.

At the 2001 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 18, 2001, Earnhardt was involved in a car accident after the final lap, in which Earnhardt's car was pushed into the wall nose-first by Ken Schrader's car at an estimated speed of.

The Earnhardt team car, the RCR number 29 Chevrolet driven by Kevin Harvick, still always displays the Earnhardt stylized number 3 on the " B " posts ( metal portion on each side of the car to the rear of the front windows ) above the number 29.

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!

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.

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.

Despite having three wins, 16 top fives, 23 top tens, and three poles, Martin lost to Earnhardt by 26 points in the final standings.

Along with a win at Phoenix, Martin finished with five wins, 12 top fives, 19 top tens, and five poles en route to a third place finish in the standings, 376 points behind Dale Earnhardt.

Martin was one of three drivers ( Earnhardt and Sterling Marlin ) to be ranked in the top five for all 31 races ; none of them won the championship.

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.

Earnhardt won his first championship with Doug Richert, then won his next four with Kirk Shelmerdine, and his final two with Andy Petree ( now at ESPN ) at the top of the pit box.

The National Motorsports Press Association named him Co-Driver of the Year with Earnhardt after Richmond accumulated 13 top 5 finishes and 16 in the top 10.