PHOENIX - Jeff Gordon reminisced about his memories of Dale Earnhardt on Saturday night after tying his record of 76 wins, sixth on the all-time victory list.
There were the chrome horn kisses and the circulation-stopping hugs. The Intimidator never stopped testing The Kid's mettle even after the No. 24 convincingly won four Cup titles and challenged the No. 3 at tracks like Daytona and Talladega. Who could have imagined that Gordon would have earned two Harley J. Earl trophies for winning the Daytona 500 before Earnhardt won his first? Gordon won four consecutive Southern 500s at Darlington Raceway — a feat no other driver accomplished in 54 years.
Sign up now and create your free fantasy team and league. Live from Talladega, watch Cup racing on FOX, Sunday, April 29 at 1:30 p.m. ET. More NASCAR |
As much as Big E liked "to shove" The Kid around on the racetrack, their relationship off the track was very different.
"Senior and I had a rivalry on the racetrack, we loved to beat one another, we battled hard on the track," Gordon said. "He was very good at not carrying that off the racetrack. The way he treated me off the racetrack I understood where the boundaries were and felt very fortunate."
That's why when Gordon honored Earnhardt in Phoenix he wanted to carry out the gesture in a respectful manner. He did so by carrying a black flag emblazoned with the No. 3 around the racetrack.
"It was an important win and we're going to hold onto that flag for a long time," said Gordon, who extended his points lead by 74 over Jeff Burton. "We wanted to do something cool for Dale and pay tribute to him. I had so much fun racing with him and I miss him a lot out there. To do something he has done in this sport is pretty overwhelming for anybody, and it is for me. I can't believe that we've won 76 races, and, you know, it feels good to get back into victory lane and just to be able to hold that flag.
"I was afraid some people might think we were trying to get the Earnhardt fans or think that we're, you know, saying we're as good as him, and that wasn't the case. We just wanted to honor him. It felt really good that Junior came in and really accepted that that way."
Gordon entered NASCAR's Cup division in 1992 when Earnhardt was bigger than life. He had already won five of his seven Winston Cup championships in a time when NASCAR wanted to move beyond its southern roots but didn't quite know how to get there. Earnhardt was pivotal in leading the charge.
A quick timeline for the nouveau fan:
1979: CBS televises the first flag-to-flag running of the Daytona 500 featuring the finish that ignited the brawl between Cale Yarborough and the Allison Brothers — Bobby and Donnie. Dale Earnhardt exhibits early potential at Daytona. He starts 10th in the No. 2 Rod Osterlund Buick, leads 10 laps and finishes eighth. Earnhardt wins his first career race at Bristol (on April Fool's Day, 28 days shy of his 28th birthday), finishes seventh in the point standings and wins rookie-of-the-year honors.
|
Friday, 4/27 on SPEED2:30 p.m. ET: Nextel Cup practice on SPEED 3:30 p.m. ET: NASCAR Live on SPEED 4 p.m. ET: Nextel Cup final practice on SPEED 5 p.m. ET: Kansas ARCA race on SPEED 7 p.m. ET: Trackside on SPEED 8 p.m. ET: Busch qualifying on SPEED Saturday, 4/28 on SPEED11 a.m. ET: Cup qualifying on SPEED 5:30 p.m. ET: Craftsman Truck race on SPEED 10:30 p.m. ET: NASCAR Performance on SPEED 11 p.m. ET: Tradin' Paint on SPEED Sunday, 4/29 on SPEED11 a.m. ET: NASCAR RaceDay on SPEED 1:30 p.m. ET: Talladega Cup race on FOX 7 p.m. ET: The SPEED Report 8 p.m. ET: NASCAR Victory Lane 9 p.m. ET: Wind Tunnel NASCAR on FOX schedule NASCAR on FOX: Who will flinch? SPEEDTV.com's MyRaceDay page NASCAR on SPEED schedule |
1980: Earnhardt scores five victories, 19 top fives and 24 top 10s and won his first Cup championship in his sophomore season. Wrangler comes on board with Earnhardt for the final race.
1981: After 16 races, Osterlund runs out of money. Earnhardt spends four races with Jim Stacy before joining forces with Richard Childress Racing. Although Earnhardt finished seventh in points, Childress admits to growing pains and suggests Earnhardt align with a team where he can win championships. Ricky Rudd jumps in the RCR car.
1982: Earnhardt joins forces with Bud Moore and brings the Wrangler sponsorship. He posts one win, one pole and finishes 12th in the point standings.
1983: The season starts miserably with eight DNFs in the first nine races — including five engine failures. Earnhardt posts two wins but with 13 DNF's he finishes eighth in points. At season's end, Earnhardt returns to the No. 3.
1984-2001: The Childress years. Earnhardt wins his first of six titles with R.C. in 1986. He retains the title in 1987 with a blowout 11 wins, 21 top fives and 24 top 10s. The only year Earnhardt missed the top 10 in points with Childress was 1992. He came back with a vengeance in 1993 to hoist his sixth Winston Cup. Earnhardt's final title came in 1994, before the trophy was passed to Gordon the following year. Earnhardt won his one and only Daytona 500 in 1998. It was his only trophy that year as the No. 3 team transitioned from crew chief Larry McReynolds to Kevin Hamlin. Gordon won his third title and Earnhardt finished eighth in the standings.
The No. 3 car was back on track in 2000. Earnhardt won two races — including Talladega — finished second in the standings and lost the title to Bobby Labonte by 265 points. The team hadn't been this cohesive since the Andy Petree days. NASCAR had a new TV contract entering 2001 and the future for the sport was white hot.
It was to be a key year for Earnhardt as well. His three DEI teams were solidly funded and progressing. His calendar was packed — especially April. After Terry Labonte's wreck in 2000, he was passing Earnhardt the Iron Man torch to symbolize the driver with the most consecutive starts. There was a huge merchandising campaign surrounding the event that was to occur in Talladega. The other milestone was Earnhardt's 50th birthday the following week at California.
In a very strange turn of events, Bobby Hamilton won the Talladega race that spring — the first win as an owner for Earnhardt's former crew chief Petree. Earnhardt's future son-in-law Jimmy Elledge was the car's crew chief. And on what would have been Earnhardt's birthday at California, his longtime rival and friend Rusty Wallace won the race and carried the No. 3 flag around the track for his victory lap. Gordon was the runner up and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished third.
It's hard to roll into Talladega and not think of all the memorable moments that Earnhardt left behind. It's quite possible Gordon could surpass the 76-race mark this weekend, two days before Earnhardt would have celebrated his 56th birthday.
Considering the trash dump the track turned into the last time Gordon beat Dale Jr. at Talladega, is he concerned what the fans' reaction might be if he achieves win 77 at Talladega?
"I better carry a flag there, too," Gordon said. "They might not throw things at me. I think I might just carry the flag around for the whole race."