Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr. was an American professional stock car driver and team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series, most notably driving the No. 3 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. The third child of racing driver Ralph Earnhardt and Martha Earnhardt, he began his career in 1975 in the World 600. Earnhardt won a total of 76 Winston Cup races over the course of his 4 decade career, including four Winston 500s and the 1998 Daytona 500. He also earned seven Winston Cup championships, a record held with Richard Petty and Jimmie Johnson. His aggressive driving style earned him the nicknames "The Intimidator", "The Man in Black", and "Ironhead", while his success at the restrictor plate tracks of Daytona and Talladega Superspeedway also earned him the nickname, "Mr. Restrictor Plate". He is regarded as one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history.
The 2005 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series was the 57th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 34th modern-era Cup series. The season began on Saturday, February 12. The ten-race Chase for the Nextel Cup started with the Sylvania 300 on Sunday, September 18, and ended on Sunday, November 20, with the Ford 400.
The Dixie Vodka 400 is a NASCAR Cup Series race held at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida. The inaugural race was held in 1999 and was the final race in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2002 until 2019, as well as the final race of the NASCAR Cup Series' NASCAR Cup Series playoffs from 2004 to 2019. As the season finale, it was also part of the Ford Championship Weekend, which consisted of two other races, the Ford EcoBoost 200 for the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series and the Ford EcoBoost 300 for the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The race is contested over 267 laps, 400.5 miles (644.542 km). Kyle Busch is the defending winner of the event, having won the race and 2019 Cup championship.
The YellaWood 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race held at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama, hosting an event in the NASCAR playoffs. The race is one of four NASCAR Cup Series races currently run with tapered spacers, the others being the GEICO 500 in May, the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and the Daytona 500. Through 1996, this race was normally held in early August or late July. In 1997, it was moved to early October due to the uncomfortably hot summer temperatures, and sometimes unpredictable summertime thunderstorms in the Alabama area. In 2009, the race moved again, this time to November 1 as part of a realignment agreement with Atlanta and Fontana.
The 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series was the 58th season of professional Stock car racing in the United States and the 35th modern-era NASCAR Cup series season. It was started at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, February 12 with the Budweiser Shootout and ended on Monday, November 20, with the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The Chase for the Nextel Cup began with the Sylvania 300 on Sunday, September 17, at New Hampshire International Speedway.
The 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series was the 56th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 33rd modern-era Cup series season. The season began on Saturday, February 7, and ended on Sunday, November 21. Kurt Busch with Roush Racing driving a Ford was the Nextel Cup champion. It would be the last time until 2012 that the championship would be won by someone other than Tony Stewart or Jimmie Johnson.
The 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 55th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 32nd modern-era Cup Series season. The season began on February 8 at the Daytona International Speedway with the Budweiser Shootout and ended on November 16 at Homestead-Miami Speedway with the Ford 400. Despite only winning one race throughout the whole season, Matt Kenseth, driving the No.17 Ford for Roush Racing, was strongly consistent following the lone win, and was crowned the Winston Cup champion. His only win came in the third race of the 36 race season. Chevrolet took home the NASCAR Manufacturers' Championship after capturing 19 wins and 264 points over second-place finisher Dodge, who had nine wins and 203 points. Ford finished the year third with seven wins and 200 points, and Pontiac finished fourth with one win and 125 points.
The 2002 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 54th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 31st modern-era Cup Series season. It began on February 10, 2002, at Daytona International Speedway, and ended on November 17, 2002, at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Tony Stewart, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, was declared as the Winston Cup champion. Bill Elliott won the 2002 NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award. He would win it for the 16th and final time in his career. He withdrew from the ballot after receiving the award. The NASCAR Manufacturers' Championship was captured by Ford after winning 14 events and gaining 245 points over second-place finisher Chevrolet, who had 10 wins and 211 points.
The 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup season was the 53rd season of professional stock car racing in the United States, the 30th modern-era Cup series. It began on February 11, 2001, at Daytona International Speedway and ended on November 23, 2001, at New Hampshire International Speedway. Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports was declared as the series champion for the fourth time in seven years.
The 2006 Chase for the Nextel Cup was a ten-race series that commenced with the Sylvania 300 on September 17, 2006 at New Hampshire International Speedway and concluded with the Ford 400 on November 19 of that same year at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The first ten drivers in the championship standings qualified after the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 on September 9, 2006 at Richmond International Raceway. The 2006 Chase had a strong Chevrolet presence, with seven of the ten teams making the 2006 Chase for the Nextel Cup fielding Chevrolets.
The 2007 Nextel Open and Nextel All-Star Challenge was a professional auto race held on Saturday, May 19, 2007, at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte. Native Carolinian and former NBA superstar Michael Jordan was the grand marshal of the event.
The 2004 Daytona 500, the 46th running of the event was the first race of the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup season. It was a race held on February 15, 2004, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The race was televised by NBC, with Allen Bestwick, 1975 race winner Benny Parsons, and Wally Dallenbach, Jr. calling the action for the second time after the 2002 race. It was the first NASCAR Nextel Cup race to air in high definition.
The Driver of the Year Award is an award founded in 1967 by Martini & Rossi. The award is presented to drivers competing in motorsport on four wheels. Today it is privately owned and the voting panel consists of automotive and racing journalists. Mario Andretti won the first award in 1967. Jimmie Johnson has won the award six different times, the most in its history. Kevin Harvick won the award most recently in 2014.
The Big One is a phrase describing any crash usually involving five or more cars in NASCAR, ARCA, and IndyCar racing. It is most commonly used at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway, although occasionally seen at other tracks as well, such as Dover International Speedway and Watkins Glen International.
NASCAR lore has developed since the sport's founding in 1947. It includes NASCAR's colorful history of races along with the drivers and machines that have competed in them. Through the efforts of sportswriters and television, some events have become embedded within the sport and instantly recognizable throughout the years.
The 2001 edition of The Winston was held on May 19, 2001, at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. This was the 17th running of the event. The race is mostly remembered for the start, when rain progressed onto the track, causing cars to get loose and crash into the wall. One of the first ones to crash was Kevin Harvick, in his first appearance at the speedway. Then Jeff Gordon got sideways and wrecked after tapping Jeff Burton from behind, then Michael Waltrip wrecked Gordon, destroying his car, at which point the race was stopped. All of the drivers returned with back-up cars. At the end, Gordon came across the line and won his third All-Star race, tying Dale Earnhardt. Drivers Johnny Benson and Todd Bodine advanced from The Winston Open, with Benson winning the Open and Bodine winning the No Bull 5 Sprint race. This was the first Winston event without Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt. Waltrip retired at the end of 2000 and called the 2001 race from the booth, and Earnhardt was killed earlier in the season at the Daytona 500. Both drivers competed in the first 16 events.
NASCAR Classics is a series of NASCAR races that aired on Speed Channel. It aired from 2002 to 2004 and returned in 2009 before quietly disappearing off Speed Channel again in 2012. It returned again in 2014 on NBCSN. Matt Yocum was the host of the series before originally ending in 2004.
The 2002 edition of The Winston was held on May 18, 2002 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. It featured the last multiple-segment Open where only segment winners advanced until 2015, and had a 27-car field, the largest in All-Star race history. Ryan Newman won the race and became the second driver since Michael Waltrip to win the event after coming out from the Open and the only driver from the second segment to win. Newman and Jeremy Mayfield advance to The Winston after winning the two segments of the Open races.
The 2010 Aaron's 499 was the 9th race of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, and the first of two Sprint Cup races held at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. It started at 1 p.m. EDT on April 25, 2010. The race was televised on Fox and was also broadcast on MRN Radio at 12 p.m. After Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman previous crash, officials decided that they would change from the rear wing to the rear spoiler which debuted in the 2010 Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500. The race, which was extended by 12 laps, shattered numerous NASCAR records: it marked the first time under the modified green-white-checkered finish rules that a race had gone to the maximum three attempts allowed. There were eight caution flags, a record-setting 29 different leaders and a record-setting 88 lead changes. Kevin Harvick of Richard Childress Racing won the race, his first win of the season and his first since the 2007 Daytona 500, while the Earnhardt-Ganassi teammates of Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya finished second and third.
The 2004 Pepsi 400 was the 17th race of the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup Series season. It was held on July 3, 2004 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports won the race from the pole position and also led the most laps.
