NASCAR Hall Of Fame Press Releases

Dale Earnhardt - Driver, NASCAR Hall of Fame Finalist

(Photo Credit: RacingOne/Getty Images)

Birthdate: April 29, 1951 (died February 18, 2001)
Hometown: Kannapolis, N.C.

Competed: 1975-2001

Starts: 676

Wins: 76

Poles: 22

As Dale Earnhardt’s black No. 3 grew larger in some unsuspecting leader’s rearview mirror, so did the legend of The Intimidator.

Earnhardt’s passionate all-or-nothing driving style – and modest everyman background – made him a fast fan favorite. His dominance didn’t hurt, either.

Earnhardt co-holds the record for most NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships (seven) with Richard Petty. And his enormous success didn’t take long to flourish.

In only his second full season, 1980, Earnhardt nabbed his first championship. After that, the crowns came in bunches. He won consecutive titles on three separate occasions (1986-87, ’90-91 and ’93-94). Earnhardt’s 76 victories rank seventh all-time.

Earnhardt won on the biggest stages. He is the all-time leader in race victories at Daytona International Speedway with 34, though the most prominent of them was a while in the making.

In 1998, Earnhardt won his most coveted race – the Daytona 500. The scene was a memorable one, etched in the minds of race fans everywhere, forever. As Earnhardt’s black No. 3 rolled down pit road, a Daytona 500 winner at last, every crew member from every team lined up to congratulate one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Statistics

Year	Age	Races	Win	Top 5	Top 10	Pole	Laps	Led	Rank	AvSt	AvFn	RAF	Miles	LLF
1975	24	1 of 30	0	0	0	0	355	0	129	33.0	22.0	1	532.5	0
1976	25	2 of 30	0	0	0	0	416	0	104	20.5	25.0	0	634.4	0
1977	26	1 of 30	0	0	0	0	25	0	118	36.0	38.0	0	37.5	0
1978	27	5 of 30	0	1	2	0	1359	0	44	21.4	11.2	5	2375.4	0
1979	28	27 of 31	1	11	17	4	8340	605	7	7.8	10.7	23	9533.2	6
1980	29	31 of 31	5	19	24	0	9615	866	1	9.0	8.2	27	11314.5	13
1981	30	31 of 31	0	9	17	0	8134	300	7	8.0	13.5	21	10237.8	7
1982	31	30 of 30	1	7	12	1	7208	1062	12	10.6	18.8	12	7877.2	6
1983	32	30 of 30	2	9	14	0	7701	1029	8	9.2	15.3	17	9073.2	8
1984	33	30 of 30	2	12	22	0	9584	384	4	10.8	9.6	28	11027.7	10
1985	34	28 of 28	4	10	16	1	8231	1237	8	9.5	14.7	19	9335.3	9
1986	35	29 of 29	5	16	23	1	9212	2126	1	6.9	7.4	25	11344.4	15
1987	36	29 of 29	11	21	24	1	9043	3357	1	7.3	5.9	27	11077.6	23
1988	37	29 of 29	3	13	19	0	9561	1756	3	10.2	8.8	28	11419.5	17
1989	38	29 of 29	5	14	19	0	9112	2735	2	8.0	10.3	27	10770.1	19
1990	39	29 of 29	9	18	23	4	9162	2435	1	5.9	8.0	28	11034.4	20
1991	40	29 of 29	4	14	21	0	9541	1209	1	11.1	8.6	27	11410.3	17
1992	41	29 of 29	1	6	15	1	8694	483	12	14.7	14.9	25	10170.3	9
1993	42	30 of 30	6	17	21	2	9787	1475	1	9.7	8.2	28	11781.2	21
1994	43	31 of 31	4	20	25	2	9546	1013	1	15.3	8.0	28	11382.7	22
1995	44	31 of 31	5	19	23	3	9625	1566	2	13.8	9.2	29	11687.9	22
1996	45	31 of 31	2	13	17	2	9530	611	4	14.6	10.6	29	11496.2	21
1997	46	32 of 32	0	7	16	0	9693	220	5	20.0	12.1	32	12476.0	21
1998	47	33 of 33	1	5	13	0	9459	273	8	26.5	16.2	30	12282.2	16
1999	48	34 of 34	3	7	21	0	9751	248	7	24.8	12.0	31	12762.7	22
2000	49	34 of 34	2	13	24	0	10005	353	2	21.1	9.4	34	13188.8	28
2001	50	1 of 36	0	0	0	0	199	17	57	7.0	12.0	0	497.5	0
27 years		676	76	281	428	22	202888	25360		14.5	12.9	581	246760.5	352

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