MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Nov. 2, 2017) – It is said that what begins well usually ends up that way, in some cases. If that is indeed the case with Dale Earnhardt Jr., his final start as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver will put a bookend on his career that will resonate for many years past 2017.
On April 2, 2000, in just his seventh start as a full-time driver in the Cup ranks, Earnhardt Jr. won at Texas Motor Speedway. His victory was no last-lap defense, either, as he crossed under the checkered flag nearly six seconds ahead of runner-up Jeff Burton.
It was the first of what would be, at least at this point in time, 26 career victories in NASCAR’s top series. Of note in that first victory was the fact that the son topped the father, leading 106 laps on the way to a victory we’re still talking about today. Dale Earnhardt Sr. finished seventh, leading no laps but winning the race to Victory Lane when it was over to bestow a signature neck hug and some fatherly pride in a son who had done well.
“That was awesome, wasn’t it?” Dale Sr. cracked in Victory Lane. “I tell you, the kid is something else, just unbelievable. He said he was going to Texas, and that’s where he won his first (NASCAR Xfinity Series) race, so it figures he’d win his first Cup race here. We knew the kid could do it, he worked hard, drove a good race.”
Only Dale Jr. can tell you what those words meant to him, but rest assured, they were treasured.
Despite Dale Sr.’s rapid arrival in Victory Lane, Dale Jr. said it didn’t last very long.
“Dad wasn’t one to waste a lot of time,” he said. “There were some race tracks where he’d drive out of the race track in his uniform. He’d jump out of his car and into the rental car; he’d tell Teresa (Earnhardt) — I think he’s actually said over the radio before the race was over with to tell Richard (Childress, team owner) to tell Teresa to get the rental car ready. He was in a hurry to get out of the race track no matter what.
“So we won the race in Texas and he comes in there and he grabs me, said he was happy and all that. He said ‘I’m proud of you, I’m happy, enjoy this but you’ve got to find another ride home.’ He didn’t stay around for pictures or nothing. He was out of there.”
In just his 12th NASCAR Cup Series race, the young Dale Jr. was feeling the effects of 334 laps on the 1.5-mile oval.
“That was a hard last 50 laps, I was worn out mentally,” he gasped at the end. “I’m worn out. The car was awesome! That was the hardest race I ever drove. Had the flu all week long...felt pretty good once the race started. I was pretty happy...”
Two years earlier, in 1998, Earnhardt Jr. had proven he could get to Victory Lane at Texas in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Restarting third with six laps remaining in the race, he tracked down leader Joe Nemechek heading to the white flag, gave him a nudge off Turn 4 and swept past on the inside entering Turn 1. He held off Nemechek and a hard-charging Elliott Sadler for his first NASCAR victory. Sadler, the polesitter that day, finished a scant .187 seconds behind Earnhardt Jr. in second.
The victory came in Earnhardt Jr.’s 16th series start. His father’s first NASCAR victory, in the Cup Series, also came in his 16th start. The triumph put Dale Jr. 25 points ahead in the battle for the season title, and he ended up earning the championship later in the year.
By the numbers, Dale Jr. is pretty good at Texas. His first victory in 2000 remains his only Cup triumph—bet he still has the six-shooters, too—but he’s notched seven top-five and 18 top-10 finishes in his 29 starts. In the last five races at TMS, Earnhardt Jr. has finished no worse than sixth, which kind of adds to the hope that he could book-end his career with Texas-sized triumphs. And in the fall of 2013, a stout second-place run came behind teammate Jimmie Johnson.
His numbers stack up very well overall. In 29 starts, he’s led 448 laps and averaged 13.1 for both starts and finishes at Texas. Just like Texas barbecue, that’s pretty good no matter how you slice it.
Of course, there have been races where his luck was not the best, like the spring race in 2014.
Running near the front of the field in the early stages of the race, which had been postponed to Monday because of a typical spring Texas gulley-washer, Earnhardt Jr. was running in heavy traffic on the front straightaway. Heading toward Turn 1, he clipped the edge of the second dogleg, putting his left front tire into the grass. The impact shot him across the track and into the wall, hard.
That knocked a fuel line or an oil line off the engine and set the car on fire. Earnhardt Jr. got the car stopped and piled out, leaving it to burn like a Halloween bonfire. After entering the race as the point leader in the young season, he finished 43rd that day.
Texas is a place that figures prominently in the early season rush to the Playoffs and in the late-season rush to the Final Four at Homestead-Miami Speedway. In his career, he’s been much better points-wise in the former rather than the latter.
His first five races at TMS came when the track only had one race per season; from 2005 on, the track hosted the Cup Series twice a year. And usually, Earnhardt Jr. was in the thick of the points battle when the traveling NASCAR carnival reached Fort Worth. In 2003, he entered the spring race in fifth place in points.
In 2006, the second year that TMS hosted two races per season, he was third on the getaway, and he wound up fifth in the final standings (Texas then being the 34th of 36th races).
In 2013, he left Texas tied for fifth in the points on the way to another fifth-place finish in the point standings. The following year, 2014, he entered the spring race as the point leader and came out tied for sixth after he burned his car down (see above) after 12 laps of racing.
On Sunday, Earnhardt Jr. will take the green flag for the final time at Texas, with just two more races left after that in his full-time driving career. He’ll leave the Lone Star State with a ton of memories, his first NASCAR Cup Series victory and the adulation of millions of NASCAR fans the world over.