Dale Earnhardt Jr kicked off the 2004 NASCAR season in February at Daytona's Speedweeks with a bang, easily cruising to victory in the 1st Twin 125 qualifying race for the upcoming Daytona 500. He would go on to win the 500, and a total of 6 Cup races by the time Ford Championship Week rolled around at Homestead in November.

The win in the 1st Twin 125 would earn Junior a 3rd place starting spot for the Daytona 500, but when pole winner Greg Biffle lost an engine and had to start from the rear of the field the entire inside row moved up 1 position. This gave Dale Jr a pole position starting spot for the race.

Following Monday's victory Earnhardt hopped on his jet and headed to New York for a round of Media appearances as Daytona 500 champ. TV appearances included CBS' Late Show with David Letterman, and NBC's Today Show.

In March Junior's dominance showed once again at Atlanta. He easily cruised to victory by over 4 seconds ahead of 2nd place Jeremy Mayfield in the Golden Corral 500.

The win was a 180 degree turn from the previous race in Las Vegas where Junior finished 35th, dropping out of the race after just 196 laps due to handling problems.

Going in to Richmond after only 10 races Dale Jr had already racked up 7 top 10's, 6 top 5's and 2 wins -- he would soon add another Richmond win to his record.

In May Dale Jr led 115 laps on his way to a win in the Chevy American Revolution 400 at Richmond International Raceway -- a 3/4 mile high-banked short track.

When NASCAR returned to the short tracks at Bristol in August he would win again. After a mediocre qualifying run Junior started the race on 30th position -- extremely deep in the field on the 1/2 mile track where driver's near the back can quickly lose a lap.

Earnhardt dominated the Saturday night race under the lights -- quickly moving to the front and leading 295 of 500 laps.

The following week in Fontana, California Earnhardt would not be so fortunate. A crash would take him out of the race -- and handing him a 34th place finish. Even with the poor finish Junior would leave California already qualified for 1 of the final 10 spots in the Chase for the championship.

In the 10 races of the Chase Dale Jr would score 6 top 10's including wins at Talladega and Phoenix.

Following the win at Talladega Dale Jr emerged from his winning car -- and on live television responded to a question from an NBC broadcaster about what the win meant to him.

"It don't mean s--- right now. Daddy's won here 10 times." Earnhardt responded on live TV.

“I wouldn’t have went down there all the way to Daytona if I didn’t feel like it was worth the trip,” Earnhardt said. “They made you feel like they were listening to you while you were there, but I think the decision was already made before the wheels hit the ground, you know.”

Now instead of leading the point standings by 13 points he was trailing leader Kurt Busch by 12 -- Busch would go on to become the 2004 champion.

Earnhardt's championship chances were not helped by back to back crashes in October. He finished 33rd at Martinsville after a late race crash, then matched that with another 33rd place finish the following week at Atlanta after crashing near the end of the 500 mile race.

He bounced back in November with a win in the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix, but that wasn't enough to gain the championship.

Dale Jr finished the season 5th in the final points standings -- with 6 wins, 16 top 5's and 21 top 10's.

He failed to win a single pole position this year, and had 4 races in which he did not finish.

His total winnings for the year totaled over $6.8 million.