Setting a blistering pace Dale Earnhardt Jr left no doubt who The Man was at Talladega. Junior led 133 of the race’s 188 laps on his way to victory in the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway on April 21, 2002, his 2nd straight win at the Talladega Superspeedway.

Earnhardt was cool, calm and collected on the track at speeds nearing 200 MPH.

It was when NASCAR displayed the red flag on lap 183, just 6 laps from the finish, that he began to feel nervous.

Mark Martin’s engine had expired, and the track was oiled down and littered with broken pieces of his engine.

Safety crews quickly went to work picking up the twisted pieces of Martin’s engine, and towing away his stalled car

After a red flag that lasted 15 minutes and 29 seconds NASCAR gave the command for the drivers to re-start their engines.

When the green flag waved with 4 laps to go it was Junior out front, and DEI teammate Michael Waltrip on his bumper. Junior’s car was obviously faster so Waltrip tried to help his partner by holding off the rest of the field.

"Junior wound up being a little stronger than me all day," Waltrip said. "I was having fun running second and I just wanted to see how long I could protect him."

"I was proud of him for blocking for me when he needed to, and I did it for him when I could," said runner-up Waltrip who led most of the laps that Dale Jr didn’t.

This wasn’t the first time the pair had finished 1st and 2nd at a restrictor plate race.

The race distance was 188 laps on a 2.660 mile track, for a total of 500.1 miles

According to official NASCAR Timing and Scoring the time of the race was 3 hours, 8 minutes, 41 seconds.

Jimmie Johnson captured the pole at a qualifying speed of 186.532 MPH. The average speed of the race was slowed to 159.022 MPH by 3 cautions for a total of 19 laps.

Dale Earnhardt Jr earned $184,830 in prize money for his win.