Dale Earnhardt Jr captured 2 Cup victories in the 2003 Cup season, one on the high banked -- restrictor plate controlled -- Talladega Superspeedway, and another on the 1 mile flat track of Phoenix -- plus a win in NASCAR’s preseason all-star race, the Shootout at Daytona.

This was Dale Jr’s 1^st Shootout win -- a race he started dead last. By lap 16 Junior had the lead. He stayed near the front from there on out and passed Jeff Gordon for the final time with just 5 laps left to take the lead.

"We stayed out front all night," said Junior. "I didn't think that was possible. It was possible. It's a lot easier to be out front than run second."

In the season opening Daytona 500 Junior qualified 2^nd, and led 22 laps during the race -- but when the race was halted due to rain after just 109 of the scheduled 200 laps the No. 8 Chevrolet was caught a lap down. When NASCAR called the race early he finished 36^th.

Junior clearly had a fast car early in the race. He was leading as late as lap 87, but a faulty alternator forced him to pit road for a battery change. That put his car back up to speed, but he wasn’t able to make up the lost ground before the rain came.

After 10 races Dale Jr would have 5 top 5 finishes, including the Talladega win.

In April Earnhardt qualified 13^th at Talladega, led 34 laps, and beat Kevin Harvick to the finish line by about 1 car length to take his 1^st win of the season.

This was Dale Jr’s 4^th win at Talladega -- in a row -- he certainly seemed to have the Alabama track figured out. He’s the only person ever to win 4 straight races there.

"There ain't too many ever won four races here, period," Earnhardt said. "I'm steppin’ into some awful big shoes."

The following race he would dominate at Martinsville, leading 195 laps, before fading at the end to finish 3^rd.

There were 4 races this year in which Earnhardt did not finish. In May at Charlotte Junior dropped out due to brake problems.

Crashes took him out of 3 other races at Chicago, Michigan and Dover.

A hard crash at Dover in September left Earnhardt Jr momentarily unconscious, sent him to the hospital, and left him on crutches for a few days.

NASCAR required him to submit to a medical evaluation, but eventually cleared him to return to the track the following week at Talladega.

This would be his final contract with DEI -- agreeing to drive for his stepmother Teresa Earnhardt’s DEI through the 2007 season. That would be his last year to race for DEI.

Despite only 2 wins Dale Jr finished 2^nd in the final championship standings by scoring 13 top 5’s and 21 top 10’s -- he had an average finish of 12.7 for the year.

Junior led a total of 1,046 laps, and completed 10505 of the 10668 laps raced during the season.

His total winnings for the year were $4.6 million.