Ralph Dale Earnhardt was an American professional stock car driver and racing 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. His aggressive driving style earned him the nicknames "the Intimidator", "the Man in Black" and "Ironhead"; after his son Dale Earnhardt Jr. joined the Cup Series circuit in 1999, Earnhardt was generally known by the retronyms Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Dale Sr. He is regarded as one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history and named as one of the NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers class in 1998.
Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. is an American stock car racing driver. He competes occasionally in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro for his team JR Motorsports. A third generation driver, he is the son of 7-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt and relative to many former and current drivers in the NASCAR ranks.
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.
Steven Letarte is an American professional NASCAR crew chief and sportscaster who works for NBC Sports as a color commentator on their telecasts for NASCAR. He also works as a consultant for Spire Motorsports, a NASCAR Cup and Truck Series team. He was previously a crew member and crew chief for Hendrick Motorsports from 1995 to 2014, retiring after 20 years with the team. From September 2005 to 2010, he was the crew chief for Jeff Gordon's No. 24 car and from 2011 to 2014, he was the crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 88 car.
The 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Series was the 52nd season of professional stock car racing in the United States, and was the 29th modern-era Cup series. The season began on February 13 and ended on November 20. Joe Gibbs Racing driver Bobby Labonte was crowned champion at season's end. The NASCAR Manufacturers' Championship was won by Ford as they captured 14 wins and 234 points to better Pontiac's 11 wins and 213 points. Chevrolet finished third with nine wins and 199 points.
NASCAR on Fox, also known as Fox NASCAR, is the branding used for broadcasts of NASCAR races produced by Fox Sports and have aired on the Fox television network in the United States since 2001. Speed, a motorsports-focused cable channel owned by Fox, began broadcasting NASCAR-related events in February 2002, with its successor Fox Sports 1 taking over Fox Sports' cable event coverage rights when that network replaced Speed in August 2013. Throughout its run, Fox's coverage of NASCAR has won thirteen Emmy Awards.
The 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series 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.
On the afternoon of February 18, 2001, American stock car racing driver and team owner Dale Earnhardt was involved in a final-lap collision in the 2001 Daytona 500, in which he crashed into a retaining wall after making contact with Sterling Marlin and Ken Schrader. He was pronounced dead at Halifax Medical Center a short time later; the cause of death was a basilar skull fracture, which was determined to have killed him instantly.
The 2001 Daytona 500, the 43rd running of the event, was the first race of the 2001 NASCAR Winston Cup Series schedule. It was held on February 18, 2001, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, consisting of 200 laps and 500 miles on the 2.5-mile (4 km) asphalt tri-oval.
Jeffery Michael Gordon is an American stock car racing executive and former professional stock car racing driver, who currently serves as the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series and Sprint Cup Series, and also served as a substitute driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in select races during the 2016 season. He is regarded as one of the best and most influential drivers in NASCAR history, helping the sport reach mainstream popularity.
The 2009 Budweiser Shootout was the first exhibition stock car race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The 31st annual running of the Budweiser Shootout, it was held on February 7, 2009, in Daytona Beach, Florida, at Daytona International Speedway, before a crowd of 80,000 people. Richard Childress Racing's Kevin Harvick won the 78-lap race, after he started from the next-to-last 27th position. Roush Fenway Racing's Jamie McMurray finished in second, and Stewart-Haas Racing's Tony Stewart was third.
Samuel Mark Bass was an American motorsports artist known for being NASCAR's first officially licensed artist. A lifelong NASCAR fan, he began working on designing drivers' cars paint schemes with Bobby Allison in 1988. He later designed various paint schemes for drivers like Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, and designed and painted dozens of Race program covers for races at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, and others.
The 2000 NAPA 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that was held on November 20, 2000, at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia. It was originally scheduled for November 19, but was postponed due to rain and run on Monday. It was the 34th and final race of the 2000 NASCAR season.
The 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was the 67th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 44th modern-era Cup season. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Sprint Unlimited exhibition race, the Budweiser Duels, and the Daytona 500. The season ended with the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Kyle Busch won the championship, despite missing the first third of the season due to severe leg injuries suffered in an Xfinity Series race at Daytona. Busch also became the first Toyota driver to win a Cup championship. Despite not running the full season, Brett Moffitt was named Rookie of the Year.
The 2014 Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on October 26, 2014, at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia. Contested over 500 laps on the .526-mile (.847 km) short track, it was the 33rd race of the 2014 Sprint Cup Series season, as well as the seventh race of ten in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the race, his fourth win of the season. Jeff Gordon finished second, while Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, and Joey Logano rounded out the Top 5. The top rookies in the race were Austin Dillon (12th), Justin Allgaier (17th), and Cole Whitt (18th).
I Am Dale Earnhardt is a 2015 documentary TV film created by NASCAR Productions and Spike TV, that takes an in-depth look into the life and death of Dale Earnhardt. It is part of a series of I AM documentaries that air on Spike TV.
The 2015 CampingWorld.com 500 at Talladega was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held on October 25, 2015, at Talladega Superspeedway in Lincoln, Alabama. Contested over 196 laps – extended from 188 laps due to a green-white-checker finish – on the 2.66 mile (4.2 km) superspeedway, it was the 32nd race of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, sixth race of the Chase and final race of the Contender Round. Joey Logano won the race, his sixth of the season and third in a row, thus sweeping the entire Contender Round. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second. Jeff Gordon, Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards rounded out the top-five.
Former American stock car racing driver Jeff Gordon has become an iconic figure in popular culture. While Gordon became a household name among NASCAR fans for his driving career in the Cup Series, he has introduced the sport to a wider audience, largely through the media of the United States.
Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) is a former race team founded by Dale Earnhardt and his wife, Teresa Earnhardt, to compete in the NASCAR Cup Series, the highest level of competition for professional stock car racing in the United States. From 1998 to 2009, the company operated as a NASCAR-related organization in Mooresville, North Carolina, United States. Earnhardt was a seven-time Winston Cup champion. He died in a crash on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Despite his ownership of the DEI racing team, Earnhardt never drove for his team in the Winston Cup; instead, he raced for his long-time mentor and backer Richard Childress at RCR. In the late-2000s, DEI suffered critical financial difficulties after drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip, and sponsors Anheuser-Busch, National Automotive Parts Association and United States Army left the team; DEI consequently merged with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2009, moving their equipment into the latter's shop, while the former's closed down. Chip Ganassi Racing's NASCAR operations was subsequently purchased by Trackhouse Racing Team in 2021.
The 2003 Budweiser Shootout was the first of two exhibition stock car races of the 2003 NASCAR Winston Cup Series. The 25th Budweiser Shootout, and the first to be held at night to allow for prime time broadcasting, it was held on February 8, 2003, in Daytona Beach, Florida, at Daytona International Speedway, before a crowd of 75,000 spectators. Dale Earnhardt Jr. of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. won the 70-lap race from 19th. Hendrick Motorsports's Jeff Gordon was second, with Roush Racing's Matt Kenseth third. It was Earnhardt's first Budweiser Shootout win, and his first at Daytona International Speedway in the Cup Series since the 2001 Pepsi 400.
