dale earnhardt jr

Career

Earnhardt Jr. began his professional driving career at the age of 17, competing in the Street Stock division at Concord (N.C.) Motorsport Park. His first racecar was a 1978 Monte Carlo that he co-owned with older half-brother Kerry. Within two seasons, the young Earnhardt had honed his driving abilities to the point of joining the Late Model Stock Car division. There, he developed an in-depth knowledge of chassis setup and car preparation, while racing against Kerry and Dale's sister Kelley. Earnhardt Jr. won consecutive NASCAR Busch Series Championships in 1998 and 1999 over rival Matt Kenseth.

Earnhardt Jr. competed for the Raybestos NASCAR Rookie of the Year Award in 2000. His primary competitor for the award was his friend Kenseth. Kenseth outran Junior in the season-opening Daytona 500. Earnhardt scored wins at the Texas Motor Speedway and Richmond International Raceway. He also become the first rookie to win the All-Star exhibition race. Kenseth ultimately scored a 42-point victory in the rookie race.

Junior did have a part in recreating one Winston Cup milestone in 2000 when he competed with his father and half-brother Kerry in the Pepsi 400 at Michigan International Speedway. That occasion was only the second time that a father had raced against two sons. Lee, Richard and Maurice Petty had previously accomplished the feat.

In 2001 Earnhardt Jr. came into the season assuming he would face a sophomore slump, but the year proved to be one of the most tumultuous and memorable seasons the young driver has experienced.

The major event of the season occurred in the final corner of the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500--Junior's father crashed. As Junior finished second, his father had died in turn four. Junior raced at Rockingham the following weekend, but crashed on the first lap and finished in 43rd-place. Earnhardt rebounded and scored victories at Dover and Talladega, as well as an emotional win in the return to Daytona, finishing eighth in points for the year.

The Talladega victory earned Junior a Winston No Bull 5 $1 million bonus. This season of emotion produced nine top-fives and 15 top-10 finishes, as well as two Bud Poles.

2002 to 2003

In 2002, Junior had a roller-coaster season. He struggled after enduring a concussion at Fontana in April -- an injury he did not admit to until mid-September. In the three races following Fontana, Earnhardt Jr. finished no better than 30th. Still, Junior rallied to score two more wins at Talladega, a pair of Bud Pole Awards and an 11th-place finish in the standings.

2003 saw Earnhardt Jr. become a true title contender. He scored a record-breaking 4th consecutive win at Talladega, but people were beginning to say that Earnhardt could only win on the restrictor plate tracks, as his last win on a non-plate track had come at Dover in 2001. He put that talk to rest as he scored a victory at Phoenix in October, recording a career best 3rd place effort in the standings. He would also take home the NMPA Most Popular Driver award for the first time in his career.

2004 to 2006

In 2004, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Daytona 500, 6 years to the day after his father won his only title in the "Great American Race." In July, during on off-weekend from NASCAR, Dale Jr. crashed the Corvette he was testing for an American Le Mans Series race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. The car burst into flames with Earnhardt still inside. He suffered second and third degree burns on his neck, chin, and legs. The burns prevented him from finishing two races where he was replaced by Martin Truex, Jr. (driver for Chance 2 Motorsports, co-owned by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his stepmother Teresa Earnhardt) and his DEI team mate (John Andretti) in the middle of the races. In the fall, Junior became the first driver to sweep a weekend at Bristol by winning both the Busch race and Cup race in the same weekend.

He was able to qualify for the NASCAR ten-race playoff, and his fifth Nextel Cup win of the season (a career high) was also his fifth win at Talladega. However, he was penalized 25 points for use of an obscenity during the television broadcast, in violation of a NASCAR rule prohibiting participants from using obscene language. That incident, combined with two consecutive DNF's in the playoffs, eventually dropped him out of the running, and he finished fifth in the 2004 Nextel Cup chase despite a career-high 6 wins at Daytona, Atlanta, Richmond, Bristol, Talladega and Phoenix. He also picked up his 2nd consecutive Most Popular Driver Award.

Earnhardt as an owner was more proficient. Truex went on a charge late in the 2004 Busch Series season, and clinched the series championship at Darlington, with a strong finish, making Earnhardt the winner of both a driver's championship (1998 and 1999) and an owner's championship (2004) in the NASCAR Busch series. He would repeat the feat in 2005 with 6 wins and another championship. Earnhardt also won his fair share of races as a driver/owner, winning 6 Busch races in only 8 starts from 2002 to 2004.

At the close of the 2004 season it was revealed that Tony Eury, Sr. would be promoted to the team manager position for the DEI corporation, while Tony Eury, Jr. became the crew chief for the DEI #15 driven by Michael Waltrip for the 2005 season. Peter Rondeau, a Chance 2 employee who also helped Earnhardt win the Busch Series race at Bristol in August, became the crew chief for Earnhardt in 2005. Rondeau served as Earnhardt's crew chief until the Coca Cola 600 weekend when he was replaced with DEI chief engineer Steve Hmiel, who helped Jr. score his lone win of 2005 at Chicagoland in July. Earnhardt was eliminated from any possible competition for the NEXTEL Cup championship after suffering an engine failure at the California Speedway. Earnhardt was reunited with cousin Tony Eury, Jr after the fall Richmond weekend, and results improved immediately. Earnhardt statistically had his worst season in 2005, with only 1 win and a 19th place points effort. For the 3rd straight year, Earnhardt took home the NMPA Most Popular Driver Award.

Meanwhile, Earnhardt's proficiency as a car owner continued. His race team outside of DEI, JR Motorsports, in 2005 fielded a car in the USAR Hooters ProCup Series, winning once and qualifying for the Four Champions playoff. (As a note of interest, Four Champions, a five (now six) race playoff, was started in 2001 in USAR Hooters ProCup, and was the catalyst for NASCAR's eventual development of the Chase for the Nextel Cup in 2004.) McFarland is moving to the Busch Series in 2006, driving the #88 JR Motorsports US Navy Chevrolet, with Richard Childress Racing providing assistance. Long-time short track racer Shane Huffman drives Earnhardt's USAR Hooters ProCup car in 2006.

So far Junior has had a successful 2006 season, with crew chief, Tony Eury, Jr., including numerous top 10's and a win at Richmond International Speedway. Many analysts predict Earnhardt will be a legitimate contender for the 2006 Nextel Cup. Currently, Jr. is 6th place in points. (It should be noted that only the top 10 drivers, and any others within 400 points of the leader after the 26th race out of the 36-race schedule qualify for the 10-race "Chase for the Cup" segment to win the Championship.)

Dale Jr.'s name has helped his media presence. He has expressed interest in pursuing an acting career. Dale Jr. has appeared in print advertisements for Drakkar Noir Cologne, one of the sponsors of his race car, and in the video for Sheryl Crow's song "Steve McQueen", which pays tribute to the late film star famous for his car chase scenes. He was also featured in several commercials for Wrangler jeans, one of which used the aforementioned song as its background music. Probably not coincidentally, Wrangler was the initial sponsor of his father's #3 Chevrolet from 1980 until 1987. Earnhardt has also appeared in advertisements for Budweiser, NAPA, Domino's Pizza, Gillette, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, and Tylenol Rapid Release Gels.

In 2006, during the spring weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, Junior and other DEI drivers drove with special black paint schemes on their cars, intended to be reminiscent of his late father's famous #3 paint scheme. The paint schemes were to celebrate Dale Sr.'s birthday; the Initimidator would have been 55 on April 29. Junior would finish 30th in the Aaron's 499 race due to engine trouble, which was actually run on May 1 after being postponed due to rain on April 30. On Father's Day 2006 Dale Jr. drove a vintage Budweiser car to honor both his grandfather (Ralph Earnhardt) and father Dale Earnhardt, who at one point in both their careers used the number 8 car. After rain caused the race to be ended short Dale Jr. finished 3rd with Kasey Kahne winning the race. After 17 races in the 2006 season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. sat 3rd in the championship standings with one win, coming at Richmond in May 2006.

But during the race at New Hampshire, Junior experienced the second engine failure of his 2006 season, ultimately leading to 43rd place finish. Following New Hampshire was the series' return to Pocono, Junior was running in the middle of the pack when Dave Blaney attempted a bump draft on the straighaway and led to Earnhardt crashing before turn 2. These two event catapulted him to 11th in the points standing, out of the Chase for the Cup. At Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Junior and his crew made a critcal decision to stay out on the final pit stop to get an extremely needed top ten finish to move him up to tenth in the points.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., after finishing 17th in the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 at Richmond International Speedway on September 9, 2006 has offically made the 2006 Chase for the Cup. His points position going into the Chase is 6th, where he is sitting 25 points back of points leader Matt Kenseth.

The first race in the Chase for the Nextel Cup was held in Louden, New Hampshire. Dale Jr. finished 13th and now sits in 6th in the point standings, 106 points back of leader Jeff Burton.

Television

• Dale Jr. currently hosts Back In The Day a show that takes a step back in time to races in the 60's and 70's and trivia and information; it debuted February 9th 2006 on SPEED Channel.

Trivia

• In 2002, Earnhardt appeared with Canadian musician Matthew Good in the music video for the Matthew Good Band's song "Anti-Pop." The video depicted Good and Earnhardt stealing a lawn gnome and taking it on a photo tour throughout various destinations in the United States. A fan, and now friend, of Good's, Earnhardt is reported to have given the musician a guitar as a birthday present.
• In 2002, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and fellow NASCAR driver Tony Stewart appeared in the music video for the song "The Road I'm On" by Three Doors Down.
• Also in 2002, Dale Jr. appeared in the video for Sheryl Crow's song Steve McQueen.
• Dale, Jr. is a big Washington Redskins fan.^[1]
• Painted a black strip under the left headlight on his car to remember Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes at the 2002 Pontiac Excitement 400 in Richmond, VA. Dale Sr.'s wife had fought a court battle to keep her late husband's autopsy photos private, which was the reason for the remembrance when Lopes' autopsy photos were leaked within days of the accident.^[2]
• In 2004, Dale Jr., joined Darrell Waltrip, and Bobby Allison as the only drivers to win the spring Busch race at Daytona and the Daytona 500 on the same weekend.
• He had a minor role in the 2006 Disney-Pixar film Cars, providing the voice of his own car, the #8 Chevy (minus the Budweiser sponsorship).
• Dale made a cameo in the 2006 comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, appearing as himself.
• His uncles Jimmy Gee and Robert Gee Jr are both employed by his Busch Series team, JR Motorsports.

References

See also

• List of famous NASCAR drivers
• NASCAR

External links

• Official Site
• JR Motorsports site
• NASCAR.com's Profile on Earnhardt Jr.
• Article from Rolling Stone Magazine, 2000
• The Inside Groove.com - Dale Earnhardt Jr - Bio, Stats, Images, Links & more
• Career statistics at racing-reference.info
• Dale Earnhardt, Jr. - Driver Information- Earnhardt, Jr. biography, stats, news, team information, and more.
• Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at Daytona 500 Racing
• Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at the Internet Movie Database
• Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Message Board & fan site