It is safe to say that Dale Earnhardt has not had the best relationship with the Daytona International Speedway. Despite seven Cup Series championships, tying him with Richard Petty, one trophy evaded him for a long time. To be precise, it took a long time to win the Daytona 500, but not for the lack of trying. Eventually, he finally got the monkey off his back in 1998, but it was a long journey to cross that off the NASCAR bucket list.

Just a year earlier, Earnhardt was making his 19th attempt to win the Daytona 500. He was right in the mix and battling with the leaders when things went horribly wrong for him. With 12 laps to go, Earnhardt was among 6 drivers in with a shout of winning the Daytona 500 in 1997.

Unfortunately, his #3 car brushed the outside wall and collided with Dale Jarrett, causing the former’s car to roll over. The #3 machine slid on its roof and collected Ernie Irvan in the #28 car.

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Dale Earnhardt pulled off a surprising move in the crash aftermath

He said after the race, “I got in the ambulance and I looked back at the car. I said, ‘Man! the wheels are still on that thing’. Got out of the ambulance and asked the guy inside the car as he was hooking the thing.

“I said, ‘See if it’ll crank’, he cranked it up, and I said, ‘Get out! Give me the car back!’. So I drove it back around here and we taped it up.”

In essence, Earnhardt did one of the gutsiest moves and tried to get back in the race. Since he figured out that his car was still in working condition, despite being banged up, that was good enough for him.

So, he hopped back in the car, drove it back to pit road and the team hustled to get the car hastily repaired. By the time he returned to the race track, he was all the way down to 31st place and five laps down.

The 7-time NASCAR champion redeemed himself a year later

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Finally in 1998, at the 20th time of asking, Dale Earnhardt could proudly say he was a Daytona 500 winner. It wasn’t easy because he faced stern competition from the likes of Bobby Labonte, Jeremy Mayfield, Ken Schader, and Rusty Wallace. Nevertheless, the Intimidator refused to be intimidated himself and soaked up the pressure to win the iconic race.

Since then, he would go on to clinch five more wins in his career. This would bring up his total tally to 76 career wins. Tragically, the legend’s life was cruelly cut short during the 2001 Daytona 500, and the sport misses him to this day.

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