Earnhardt still sensitive about 2001 'Dega win

Friday, 13 October 2017
By Kelly Crandall / Images by Nigel Kinrade/LAT, Robert LeSieur/LAT & Rusty Jarrett/LAT



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Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUPZ...XIkbCo_z9qlWmf

Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn't just want to win at Talladega Superspeedway, he wanted to prove the doubters wrong.
Earlier this week, Earnhardt tweeted his success at Talladega started because of a chip on his shoulder. A chip the size of Jimmy Spencer.

See, in 2001 Earnhardt won the July race at Daytona International Speedway after his father Dale Earnhardt Sr. lost his life at the same track that February. It was a storybook moment. A feel-good night for a healing sport and family. But to Spencer, it was too good to be true and he questioned the legality of Earnhardt's win afterward.
That October, Earnhardt won at Talladega. It started a run of unprecedented dominance for both himself and Dale Earnhardt Inc. on restrictor-plate tracks. In 2002, Earnhardt swept the races at Talladega and then won in the spring of 2003 to make it a record four straight. In 2004, he won the Daytona 500 and he has since added two Daytona wins (2014 Daytona 500; 2015 summer race) as well as two more wins at Talladega.
From 2001 through 2004, Dale Earnhardt Inc. drivers (Earnhardt and Michael Waltrip) won 11 of the 16 restrictor-plate races run. Going into Sunday's Alabama 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBC) Earnhardt is the winningest active driver at the track (six) in addition to having led the most laps (960).
Asked Friday afternoon how badly and how long the Spencer sting stayed with him, Earnhardt revealed it has never gone away. Here is his answer in its entirety:
"Mike Davis [who works at JR Motorsports], he used to work for Jimmy Spencer, and Jimmy Spencer's the guy that got out of his car that night after that race and said, boy, that's fishy how good that car was. And Mike has two of Jimmy's die-casts on his cabinet in his office and every time I walk in that office and see those die-casts that's the only thing I think about. So, it bothers me today. A lot of times, myself included, you don't think before you speak but that was incredible night for us in 2001 when we won that race and I just felt like that even if he did feel that way, I was disappointed that he would do that and say that. For us to come back here the next race and win and then have success over the next several years sort of was like, 'Hey, it's wasn't a one-race fluke or illegal car, that's just how good our program was at the plate tracks.'
"If you guys remember the partnership we put together with [Andy] Petree and [Richard Childress Racing] and all that stuff was geared directly toward making our plate cars better and those three teams, even Petree's stuff, was amazing at the plate tracks, always running up front. Of course, it's Jimmy Spencer – that's kind of the thing he does, but I never really liked that too much. Haven't forgotten about it, I guess it's hard to forget something like that.
"It was nice to keep winning and show people that was legit because for me, that's the stuff movies are made of. To come back there after Dad passed away and win that race was the greatest thing I could imagine happening for me or anybody else, all his fans, all our family. That was a big deal for all of them. It was a crazy experience."
Earnhardt's plate success was not limited to points-paying events. He is also a two-time winner of the Clash and has five wins in the Daytona qualifying races. Going even further, seven of Earnhardt's 24 career wins in the Xfinity Series have been at Daytona and Talladega.
After discussing his past success, Talladega then presented Earnhardt with gifts to commemorate them. Earnhardt received a champagne bottle from the same case back when he won his 2001 Talladega race, as well as one from one of his father last Cup victory in 2000.
The biggest gift – and the one that had Earnhardt smiling the most – was what sat outside the media center. Talladega presented Earnhardt with the car his father drove to the 1980 championship (below). After checking out the car, Earnhardt fired it up and made some laps around the speedway.

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