In 2001 Dale Earnhardt Jr would begin to show his dominance of restrictor plate racetracks, capturing wins at both Daytona and Talladega. He would also win at The Monster Mile, the high banked concrete Dover International Speedway.

He also won 2 poles, one at Atlanta, and one at Texas.

Junior had a strong run in the 43rd Daytona 500 in 2001, leading 13 laps and finishing 2nd to DEI stable-mate Michael Waltrip by just 0.124 seconds. A race ha had qualified 6th for.

It wasn't until the Texas race in April that the No.8 Chevrolet began to show signs of life again. Dale Jr must have had the track figured out. After all he won his 1st Busch race there in 1998, and his 1st cup race in 2000.

This time he would claim the Texas pole with a qualifying speed of 190.678 MPH.

This would mark the start of a 7 race streak where he would finish outside the top 10 only twice -- although his first win of the year wouldn't come until he returned to the high banks of Daytona.

In Texas he would lead 107 laps before a lengthy pit stop under caution just 23 laps from the finish put him back in the pack.

With a set of tires that Junior reported as making the car extremely tight, and not wanting to turn in the corners, he still managed to drive back up to an 8th place finish.

When NASCAR headed back to Daytona for the July 4th weekend Pepsi 400 Dale Jr was ready.

At Dover in September he would win once again after battling most of the day with Ricky Rudd. Junior led 193 laps to Rudd's 169, but it was Earnhardt at the finish winning by 1.576 seconds.

October would bring his 1st win at Talladega, where he led 67 laps on the way to his 1st win at the Superspeedway.

Dale Jr would capture 1 more pole this year, in Atlanta for the NAPA 500. His qualifying speed was 192.047 MPH.

In all Junior would earn over $4.3 million for the 2001 season for his 3 wins, 9 top 5's and 15 top 10's over the 36 race schedule.

He finished 8th in the final championship point standings.