Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Dale Earnhardt Jr's #8 chevy.

Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974 in Kannapolis, North Carolina) is the son of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt. He currently drives the #8 Budweiser Chevrolet Monte Carlo. The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the largest sanctioning body of motorsports in the United States. ... NASCAR Nextel Cup logo NEXTEL Cup trophy, adopted in 2004 4-time champion Jeff Gordon poses with the Winston Cup trophy (used prior to 2004) The NASCAR Championship is the championship held in NASCARs top stock car racing series. ... Dale Earnhardt Inc. ... 2004(MMIV) is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003(MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1999 is a common year starting on Friday Anno Domini (or the Current Era), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... The Coca-Cola 600 (formerly World 600) is a six hundred mile (966 km) stock car race held annually at Lowes Motor Speedway (formerly Charlotte Motor Speedway) in Charlotte, North Carolina on Memorial Day weekend. ... Lowes Motor Speedway (formerly Charlotte Motor Speedway) is a superspeedway in Concord, North Carolina, a few miles north of Charlotte. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... The Samsung/Radio Shack 500 is a NASCAR Nextel Cup stock car race held at the Texas Motor Speedway in Justin, Texas. ... Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in Justin, Texas, which is within Denton County, Texas. ... 2005(MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The USG Sheetrock 400 is a NASCAR Nextel Cup stock car race held at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. ... Chicagoland Speedway is a speedway in Joliet, Illinois, USA, southwest of Chicago. ... September 18 is the 261st day of the year (262nd in leap years). ... 2005(MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ... NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. ... Image File history File links Source:http://www. ... Image File history File links Source:http://www. ... October 10 is the 283rd day of the year (284th in Leap years). ... 1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... Kannapolis is a city in Cabarrus County and Rowan County, North Carolina, next to Concord and northeast of Charlotte. ... The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the largest sanctioning body of motorsports in the United States. ... Dale Earnhardt Dale Ralph Earnhardt, Sr. ... The packaging plant at the Anheuser-Busch headquarters in Saint Louis, Missouri. ... Chevrolet Logo Chevrolet, or Chevy, is a brand of automobile, now part of the General Motors group. ... The Chevrolet Monte Carlo is a large coupe version of a sedan model. ...

Earnhardt Jr. began his professional driving career at the age of 17, competing in the Street Stock division at Concord (N.C.) Motorsport Park. His first race car was a 1978 Monte Carlo that he co-owned with older brother Kerry. Within two seasons, the young Earnhardt had honed his driving abilities to the point of joining the Late Model Stock Car division. There, he developed an in-depth knowledge of chassis setup and car preparation, while racing against Kerry and their sister Kelley. Earnhardt Jr. won consecutive NASCAR Busch Series Championships in 1998 & 1999. With his father's guidance and his own experience on the short tracks throughout the Carolinas, he was ready to take a bold step forward. Concord is a city located in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte. ... State nickname: Tar Heel State Other U.S. States Capital Raleigh Largest city Charlotte Governor Michael Easley (D) Official languages English Area 139,509 km² (28th)  - Land 126,256 km²  - Water 13,227 km² (9. ... Kerry Earnhardt is the older son of late stock car racing legend Dale Earnhardt. ... NASCAR Busch Series logo The Busch Series is a stock car racing series owned and operated by NASCAR. It is NASCARs second division, and is a proving ground for drivers who wish to step up to the organizations top level, the Nextel Cup. ...

Before his Winston Cup rookie season in 2000, many thought Earnhardt Jr. was the front-runner for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year Award. It didn't pan out that way, as frequent challenger Matt Kenseth outran Junior in the Daytona 500, and never let up in his run to the title. Kenseth ultimately scored a 42-point victory in the rookie race. The NASCAR Championship is the championship held in NASCARs top stock car racing series. ... Matt Kenseth Matt Kenseth in the pits in the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. ... The Daytona 500 is a 200-lap, 500 mile (805 km) NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race held annually at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. ...

Junior did have a part in recreating one Winston Cup milestone in 2000 when he competed with his father and brother Kerry in the Pepsi 400 at Michigan International Speedway. That occasion was only the second time that a father had raced against two sons. Lee, Richard and Maurice Petty had previously accomplished the feat. The Pepsi 400 is the current name for the 400 mile (approx. ... Michigan International Speedway is a two-mile (3. ... Lee Petty (left) pictured with (to his right, left to right) his son Richard, grandson Kyle, and great-grandson Adam, in 2000 before his death. ... Richard Petty (second from left) pictured with his father Lee (to his right), son Kyle (to his left), and grandson Adam (to his far left), in 2000 before the deaths of Lee and Adam. ...

In 2001 Earnhardt Jr. came into the season assuming that the biggest obstacle he would face would be a sophomore slump, instead the year proved to be one of the most tumultuous and memorable seasons the young driver has experienced.

The first major event of the season occurred in the final corner of the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500--Junior's father crashed. As Junior finished second, his father died on impact with the wall. Just as his father would have done, Junior raced at Rockingham the following weekend, but crashed on the first lap and finished in 43rd-place. He didn't stay down for long, though. Junior scored three emotional victories and came back to finish eighth in points.

The first win came when the series returned to Daytona, the same track where Junior's father had died a few months earlier, for the Pepsi 400. The second victory came at Dover, Delaware, in the first race after 9/11 and the third was in the EA Sports 500 at Talladega--the site of his father's final victory. That Talladega victory earned Junior a Winston No Bull 5 $1 million bonus. The season of emotion produced nine top-fives and 15 top-10 finishes, as well as two Bud Poles. The Pepsi 400 is the current name for the 400 mile (approx. ... Dover International Speedway is a NASCAR race track located near Dover, Delaware. ... The September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks were a series of suicide attacks against civilians of the United States conducted on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. ... The UAW Ford 500 is a NASCAR Nextel Cup stock car race held at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. ... Talladega Superspeedway is now the official name of a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama, that was formerly Alabama International Motor Speedway. ...

In 2002, Junior had a roller-coaster season. He struggled after enduring a concussion at Fontana in April -- an injury he did not admit to until mid-September. In the three races following Fontana, Earnhardt Jr. finished no better than 30th. Still, Junior rallied to score two more wins at Talladega, a pair of Bud Pole Awards and an 11th-place finish in the final standings. Your brain floats within your skull surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). ... The California Speedway is a two-mile, low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in Fontana, California, approximately 40 miles east of Los Angeles on the site of the former Kaiser Steel mill. ...

In 2004, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Daytona 500, 6 years to the day after his father won his only title in the "Great American Race." In July, during on off-weekend from NASCAR, Dale Jr. crashed the Corvette he was testing for an American LeMans Series race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. The car burst into flames with Junior still inside. He suffered second and third degree burns on his neck, chin, and legs. The burns prevented him from finishing two races where he was replaced by Martin Truex, Jr. (driver for Chance 2 Motorsports, co-owned by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and his stepmother Teresa Earnhardt) and his DEI team mate (John Andretti) in the middle of the races. The burns did not affect Junior in the long run. In the fall, Junior became the first driver to sweep the weekend meet at Bristol by winning both the Busch race and Cup race in the same weekend. C5 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 at the Memphis Motor Speedway, 2004 The Chevrolet Corvette is a sports car first manufactured by Chevrolet in 1953 and is built today exclusively at a General Motors assembly plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky. ... Le Mans is a city in France, located at the Sarthe River. ... Infineon Raceway, formerly Sears Point Raceway, is a road course and drag strip in the golden hills of northern California, near Sonoma, north of San Francisco. ... Martin Truex, Jr. ... Bristol Motor Speedway is a NASCAR short track located in Bluff City, Tennessee, near Bristol. ...

He was able to qualify third for the NASCAR ten-race playoff, and his fifth Nextel Cup win of the season (a career high) was also his fifth win at Talladega (another record). However, he was penalized 25 points for use of an obscenity during the television broadcast, in violation of a NASCAR rule prohibiting participants from using obscene language. That incident, combined with two consecutive DNF's in the playoffs, eventually dropped him out of the running, and finished fifth in the 2004 Nextel Cup playoff.

Earnhardt as an owner was more proficient. Truex went on a charge late in the 2004 Busch Series season, and clinched the series championship at Darlington, with a strong finish, making Earnhardt the winner of both a driver's championship (1998 and 1999) and an owner's championship (2004) in the NASCAR Busch series. Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located near Darlington, South Carolina. ...

At the close of the 2004 season it was revealed that Tony Eury, Sr. would be promoted to the team manager position for the DEI corporation, while Tony Eury, Jr. became the crew chief for the DEI #15 driven by Michael Waltrip for the 2005 season. Peter Rondeau, a Chance 2 employee who also helped Earnhardt win the Busch Series race at Bristol in August, became the crew chief for Earnhardt in 2005. Rondeau served as Earnhardt's crew chief until the Coca Cola 600 weekend when he was replaced with DEI chief engineer Steve Hmiel. The Coca-Cola 600 (formerly World 600) is a six hundred mile stock car race held annually at Lowes Motor Speedway (formerly Charlotte Motor Speedway) in Charlotte, North Carolina on Memorial Day weekend. ...

On February 20 2005, Dale fell short of winning back-to-back Daytona 500 races, placing third after struggling with an ill-handling car for much of the race. At one point he was as far back as 29th. Subsequently, Earnhardt Jr. finished fifteenth in the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway, suggesting that DEI may have lost its advantage at the restrictor plate tracks to rival Hendrick Motorsports. February 20 is the 51st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... The Aarons 499 is a NASCAR Nextel Cup stock car race held at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. ... Talladega Superspeedway is now the official name of a motorsports complex located north of Talladega, Alabama, that was formerly Alabama International Motor Speedway. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Earnhardt was eliminated from any possible competition for the NEXTEL Cup championship after suffering an engine failure at the California Speedway. Despite being eliminated, Earnhardt hopes to make the most out of the remaining 11 races, in the same fashion as Greg Biffle did in 2004. In addition, fellow competitor Jeff Gordon was also eliminated, fueling fears that this year's NASCAR ten-race playoff may not be able to attract as many viewers as it would have had Earnhardt and Gordon made the playoff. The Nextel Cup Series is NASCARs premier stock car racing series. ... The California Speedway is a two-mile, low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in Fontana, California, approximately 40 miles east of Los Angeles on the site of the former Kaiser Steel mill. ... Greg Biffle (born December 23, 1969 in Vancouver, Washington) is a NASCAR Nextel Cup driver. ... Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon (top) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. ...

Earnhardt revealed in a press conference prior to the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 that a reunion with Tony Eury Jr. before 2006 could be possible. The Chevy American Revolution 400 is a NASCAR Nextel Cup stock car race held at the Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Virginia. ...

Dale Jr.'s looks have helped his media presence. He has expressed interest in pursuing an acting career. Dale Jr. has appeared in print advertisements for Drakkar Noir Cologne, one of the sponsors of his race car, and in the video for Sheryl Crow's song "Steve McQueen", which pays tribute to the late film star famous for his car chase scenes. He was also featured in a commercial for Wrangler jeans that used the aforementioned song as its background music. Probably not coincidentally, Wrangler was the initial sponsor of his father's #3 Chevrolet from 1980 until 1987. Earnhardt has also appeared in advertisements for NAPA and Domino's Pizza. The Very Best of Sheryl Crow album cover Sheryl Crow (born February 11, 1962 in Kennett, Missouri, USA) is an American blues rock singer, guitarist and song writer. ... Steve McQueen in The Great Escape Steve McQueen (March 24, 1930 – November 7, 1980) was an American movie actor and one of the most popular and highly-successful box-office superstars of the 1960s and 1970s. ... A Brief History Wrangler is one of the oldest and most popular jeans brands in the world. ... Chevrolet Logo Chevrolet, or Chevy, is a brand of automobile, now part of the General Motors group. ... The National Automotive Parts Association (NAPA) was founded in 1925 to meet Americas growing need for a auto parts distribution system. ... Dominos Pizza NYSE: DPZ is an international pizza delivery franchise and fast-food restaurant chain headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. ...

Related articles

• List of famous NASCAR drivers
• NASCAR

The following is a list of famous NASCAR drivers. ... The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) is the largest sanctioning body of motorsports in the United States. ...

External links

• Official Site
• NASCAR.com's Profile on Earnhardt Jr.
• Article from Rolling Stone Magazine, 2000

• Career statistics at Racing-Reference.com
• Dale Earnhardt, Jr. - Driver Information- Earnhardt, Jr. biography, stats, news, team information, and more.