Dale Earnhardt junior

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Dale Earnhardt junior
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.- Stierch 02.jpg
status active
NASCAR Cup Series statistics
Best placement 3rd - (2003)
Starts Victories Poles Top 10
602 26th 13 253
NASCAR Xfinity Series Statistics
Best placement 1. - (1998, 1999)
Starts Victories Poles Top 10
137 24 10 90
Data status: April 9, 2017

Ralph Dale Earnhardt junior (born October 10, 1974 in Kannapolis , North Carolina ) is a professional American racing driver and son of racing legend Dale Earnhardt . The ancestors of the Earnhardt family (Ehrenhardt) come from the German Ilbesheim . In his career he has successfully participated in various racing series and events. His successes include two-time overall victory in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and victory at the Daytona 500 in 2004 and 2014. Since 2008, he has been the driver of the number 88 Chevrolet in the NASCAR Sprint Cup . Earnhardt junior is also the owner of JR Motorsports and a former co-owner of Chance 2 Motorsports .

Career

Early years

Dale Earnhardt junior was born in Kannapolis to Benda Lorraine Gee and Ralph Dale Earnhardt senior. His maternal grandfather Robert Gee was a NASCAR vehicle builder. He began his racing career at the late age of 17 when he competed in the Street Stock Division at Motorsport Park in Concord , North Carolina . His first racing car was a 1979 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, which he owned with his older half-brother Kerry. Within two seasons, his skills had improved so much that he was able to start in the Late Model Stock Car division. In this series, he developed in-depth knowledge of the setup and preparation of racing cars while competing against Kerry and his sister Kelley Earnhardt-Elledge. In 1996 and 1997 he drove a total of nine races in the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series for Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Ed Whitaker . In the following two years he won the championship in the Busch Series twice in a row before Matt Kenseth .

2000

Dale Earnhardt junior in car # 8 at the Coca-Cola 600 in 2000

In 2000, Earnhardt junior was a contender for NASCAR's Rookie of the Year award. Again, his worst rival for the title was Matt Kenseth. In the opening race, the Daytona 500 , Kenseth crossed the finish line ahead of Earnhardt Junior. For this he won the Texas Motor Speedway and the Richmond International Raceway . He was also the first newcomer to win the Winston , which later became the All-Star Challenge. Ultimately, the title of Rookie of the Year went to Kenseth by a margin of 42 points.

In 2000 he was involved in another milestone in the history of the Winston Cup racing series: With his participation in the Pepsi 400 , it was only the second time that a father competed against two sons in a race, as his half-brother Kerry participated in this race. Lee , Richard and Maurice Petty took care of the first event of its kind .

Away from the racetrack, Earnhardt Junior wrote a book called Driver # 8 about his first season.

Dale junior during a race

2001

When Earnhardt junior started the 2001 season, he hoped to avoid another crisis. But this season was to be one of the most confused and memorable for him.

The trigger was the events in the last corner of the last lap of the Daytona 500 , the season opener of the NASCAR Sprint Cup. While Earnhardt junior crossed the finish line second after his teammate Michael Waltrip , his father was involved in an accident at Turn 4 with Sterling Marlin , who was in fourth place at the time. Dale Earnhardt Sr. was killed in the accident and pronounced dead at 8:35 p.m. Earnhardt Jr. started at Rockingham the following weekend but finished 43rd after being involved in an accident very similar to his father's. Earnhardt junior recovered and won at Dover International Speedway , Talladega Superspeedway and the second race of the year at Daytona International Speedway . He finished the season eighth in the championship.

By winning the Talladega Superspeedway, he won the Winston No Bull 5 , which earned him a $ 1 million bonus . In 2001, Earnhardt junior achieved nine top 5 and 15 top 10 results as well as two pole positions.

2002-2003

The 2002 season was like a roller coaster for Earnhardt junior. After suffering a concussion at California Speedway in April, he struggled on the track. He did not admit this injury until mid-September. In the three following races after the one on California Speedway, he finished the races no better than 30. Nevertheless, he managed two victories at Talladega Superspeedway , two pole positions and 11th place in the championship.

In the 2003 season, Earnhardt junior was a real championship candidate. He won the Talladega Superspeedway for the fourth time in a row , which was a new record. But there was a rumor among the fans that Earnhardt junior could only win so-called Restrictor Plate races , that is, races in which the performance of the cars is reduced with air restrictors and which run very differently from normal races. His last win on a "normal" circuit was in 2001 at Dover International Speedway . He put an end to the rumors when he won the Phoenix International Raceway in October . Earnhardt junior finished the 2003 season third in the championship and was also named the most popular driver in the series.

2004-2006

Earnhardt Junior in the pit lane at the Bristol Spring 2006 race

In 2004, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Daytona 500 , six years after his father last won the race. On July 18, he had an accident on a race-free weekend in a Corvette C5-R during training for the Sonoma Grand Prix of the American Le Mans Series at Infineon Raceway . After being hit by Mike Rockenfeller , the car skidded off the track, hit a concrete wall, and went up in flames while Earnhardt Jr. was still in the cockpit. He suffered second and third degree burns on the neck, chin and legs, mainly due to the fact that he was not wearing a balaclava under his helmet. Due to the injuries, he could not participate in two races, in which he was replaced by Martin Truex junior and John Andretti . In the fall he was the first to win the Sprint Cup and the Nationwide Series at Bristol Motor Speedway .

He managed to qualify for the playoff format, the Chase for the Sprint Cup , and clinched his fifth win of the season in Talladega. However, he was punished with a 25 point deduction for speaking obscene on television, which is a violation of NASCAR rules. This incident, along with two consecutive failures, practically threw him out of the race for the championship. He finished the season in fifth with a total of six wins this season in Daytona, Atlanta, Richmond, Bristol, Talladega and Phoenix. At the same time he was awarded for the second time from the series' most popular driver.

At the end of the season it was announced that Tony Eury senior would be appointed team manager of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and Tony Eury junior would be the crew chief for the No. 15 car of Michael Waltrip . Peter Rondeau became crew chief from Earnhardt junior to the Coca-Cola 600 when he was replaced by chief mechanic Steve Hmiel. He helped him win July at Chicagoland Speedway . Due to the engine failure on the California Speedway, Earnhardt junior was deprived of participation in the championship decision. After the autumn race in Richmond, his cousin Tony Eury junior became his crew chief again, which immediately led to better results. At the end of the season, he was named the most popular driver for the third time in a row.

Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt junior accelerating out of the pit lane , 2006

Meanwhile, he proved his skills as a racing car owner. His team JR Motorsports, which was represented with a car in the USAR Hooters ProCup Series in 2005, won a race and qualified for the Four Champions Playoffs. Driver Mark McFarland switched to the Nationwide Series in 2006, where he drove the No. 88 US Navy Chevrolet from JR Motorsports, supported by Richard Childress Racing. However, he was fired before the fall race in Michigan, the Carfax 250 , and replaced by Robby Gordon and Martin Truex junior for the remainder of the year. The car in the USAR Hooters ProCup took over for the following year Shane Huffman, who drove on short tracks for a long time.

In 2006, Earnhardt Jr. and the other team members from Dale Earnhardt Inc. drove a special black paint job on their cars at the spring race on the Talladega Superspeedway as a reminiscence of the famous paint job of No. 3. On Father's Day , he drove an old-fashioned Budweis car at Michigan International Speedway in honor of his grandfather and father, who both drove a number 8 car at one point in their careers. After the race was prematurely stopped due to rain, Earnhardt junior finished the race in third behind the winner Kasey Kahne . After 17 races, he was third in the championship with a win at Richmond in May 2006.

During the race in New Hampshire, Earnhardt junior was the victim of a second engine failure in the 2006 season that he then finished in 43rd position. At the following race in Pocono, he was driving in a group of cars when he had an accident at Turn 2. Because of these two incidents, he fell back to 11th place in the championship table, which would have meant a non-participation in the Chase for the Cup. At Indianapolis Motor Speedway , Earnhardt junior and his crew made the important decision to skip the last pit stop in order to get a top 10 result and catapult him to tenth place in the championship table.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. made it into the Chase for the Cup after finishing 17th at the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 at Richmond International Raceway on September 9, 2006. He finished sixth in this play-off and finished the season fifth, 147 points behind champion Jimmie Johnson .

2007

Earnhardt Junior driving into a garage in Texas 2007

The 2007 season started for Earnhardt junior with a 32nd place at the Daytona 500. He achieved his first top 10 result on the Bristol Motor Speedway at the Food City 500 , which he finished in seventh. His first top 5 result was on Martinsville Speedway at the Goody's Cool Orange 500 . He led a total of 136 laps and finished fifth. With seventh place on the Talladega Superspeedway at the Aaron's 499 , he achieved the third top 10 result of the season. On May 14th, 100 championship points were deducted from Dale Earnhardt junior as well as car owner Teresa Earnhardt. His crew chief was fined $ 100,000 and banned from six races for using illegal clips to attach the rear wing to his car.

On May 27, 2007, Earnhardt Jr. drove a camouflage-colored car to the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day to solicit donations for the families of the US troops. Jeff Gordon , Jimmie Johnson , Greg Biffle , Mark Martin , Ward Burton , Denny Hamlin , Casey Mears , Shane Huffman and Jon Woord also changed the paintwork of their cars for the occasion. Earnhardt junior finished the race in eighth place after still being in the lead with seven laps to go.

On August 5, 2007, Earnhardt junior achieved his first pole position since the 2002 season at the Pocono Raceway at the Pennsylvania 500, finishing second behind Kurt Busch . On August 12th, he fought on the Watkins Glen International at Centurion Boats at The Glen for entry into the Chase. After Earnhardt junior was already in 2nd position in the race, an engine failure on lap 64 meant both the end of the race and the fight to get into the chase.

Change to Hendrick Motorsports

After much speculation, Earnhardt junior announced on May 10, 2007 that he would be leaving the Dale Earnhardt Inc. team founded by his father in order to drive for another team from the 2008 season. On June 13, 2007, he announced at a press conference that he would drive for Hendrick Motorsports for the next year . He will take over from Kyle Busch and sign a five-year contract. After it was announced on July 13, 2007 that its long-time sponsor Budweiser would not join Hendrick Motorsports, the rumor arose on July 30 that the US National Guard and Mountain Dew would share the sponsorship. On September 19, the team officially announced that Pepsi, with its two brands Mountain Dew and AMP Energy by Mountain Dew, and the US National Guard would be the new sponsors.

At the same time, the speculation about Earnhardt junior's starting number was ended from the 2008 season. After it was finally announced on August 15, 2007 that he would not be able to take his traditional starting number 8 with him to Hendrick due to differences with his stepmother and owner of the Dale Earnhardt Inc. team , Hendrick Motorsports announced at the press conference that Earnhardt junior would be in Car with the starting number 88 will go into the race, with which his grandfather Ralph Earnhardt raced in 1957. This was previously withdrawn by Robert Yates Racing and transferred to the team. According to Robert Yates, he has already raced against Ralph Earnhardt himself and he is proud to be able to transfer the start number to Earnhardt junior.

2008

Car number 88

In his very first race for his new Hendrick Motorsports team, Earnhardt junior won the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona International Speedway on February 9, 2008. He led the field in 47 of 70 laps in his # 88 Chevrolet Impala SS, making one new record for most laps of leadership in the Budweiser Shootout. On June 15, 2008, Earnhardt Jr. won the LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway, his first victory in a points race after 76 races without a win.

End of career

On April 25, 2017, he announced his retirement as a full-time driver at the end of the 2017 season .

Media presence

  • Dale Earnhardt Jr. hosts the Back In The Day show , which looks back on races in the 1960s and 1970s
  • He is the host of Dale Earnhardt Junior's Unrestricted , a show on XM Sports Nation
  • Dale Earnhardt Jr. was in the video for Show Me What You Got by Jay-Z to see where he in one along with Jay-Z Ferrari F430 Spider a race against Danica Patrick in a Pagani Zonda runs
  • Appearance in the video for Anti-Pop by the Matthew Good Band, with whose front man Matthew Good he is good friends.
  • Appearance in video for the song Steve McQueen by Sheryl Crow
  • Appeared in the video Rough And Ready by country musician Trace Adkins
  • Appeared with Tony Stewart in the video The Road I'm On by Three Doors Down
  • Appeared in the movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby when he asked Ricky for an autograph and said: "But don't tell the other drivers"
  • His voice can be heard in the video game Scarface: The World is Yours
  • Voice of the car with starting number 8 in the movie Cars
  • Appearance in the video for Right On Time by OAR
  • Appearances in commercials for Budweiser, Kentucky Fried Chicken, NAPA , Domino's Pizza, Gillette, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Drakkar Noir Cologne, Wrangler Jeans, Chevrolet, Polaris Industries, Nationwide Insurance and Tylenol
  • Appearance in the music video Rockstar by the Canadian rock band Nickelback
  • In the program "Fast N 'Loud" he ordered a Nomad Bel Air from Chevrolet from Gas Monkeys
  • In April 2016, he made his brain available for post mortem analysis for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), which is associated with repeated headbuttons and concussions.

Web links

Commons : Dale Earnhardt junior  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Ancestry of Dale Earnhardt Jr. accessed December 15, 2014
  2. http://www.wargs.com/other/earnhardt.html
  3. http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/6790150 ( Memento from October 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  4. http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=2&id=2884595
  5. http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?seriesId=2&id=2954576
  6. a b Earnhardt to be in No. 88 with Pepsi, National Guard ( Memento October 2, 2007 on the Internet Archive ) on NASCAR.com
  7. ^ Earnhardt Jr. to retire following 2017 season . ( nascar.com [accessed April 26, 2017]).
  8. ^ Dale Earnhardt Pledge's Brain to CTE Research. The New York Times, April 16, 2016, accessed May 1, 2016 .