Dale Earnhardt Jr’s First Win
Dale Jr’s First NASCAR Win — Ever!
Dale Earnhardt Jr scored his first ever NASCAR win in the Busch Series in Texas in 1998 — thanks to a call by his dad for 4 tires during a late race caution.
Dale Earnhardt Jr’s First Win
Dale Jr’s First Win Came at Texas — He’s Ready for Another One
A look back at Dale Earnhardt Jr’s first win
Nine years ago Dale Earnhardt Jr scored his first career victory in Texas. Now he’s headed back to Texas for what he hopes is a repeat performance.
Dale Earnhardt Jr’s first win in the cup series came on April 2, 2000 in the DirecTV 500 held at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas.
“I really didn’t know what to expect this year,” Earnhardt said. “I didn’t know if we were going to kick butt right out of the box or whether we were going to be lousy for a year or two.”
Dale Jr started the race from outside the second row in the 4th qualifying position driving the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet owned by Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
His margin of victory was an impressive 5.920 seconds over second place finishing Jeff Burton who led 37 laps.
The young Earnhardt was dominant in his first win, leading 106 of 334 laps on his way to victory lane.
His winnings for that first win were $374,675.
This was the 7th race of the 2000 season, which was Dale Earnhardt, Jr’s rookie year, and his first full-time season in the cup series.
Junior had made 5 cup appearances in the 1999 season, so that means he won his first race after only 12 attempts — a feat accomplished by only a handful of other drivers.
When asked if he thought he would get to Victory Lane so soon, Earnhardt Jr replied ”I didn’t think it was actually coming this quick. I can’t believe it. When you put together a car that good, it’s going to get you to victory lane sooner or later.”
Junior didn’t think a win would come that soon
“I didn’t know how quickly this would come and I’m kind of overwhelmed by it,” Earnhardt Jr said. “But I think we’re going to see a couple of rookies get into victory lane this year.”
”We’ve got an awesome car,” Jr said. ”It did whatever I asked it to do. We didn’t change nothing all day long. That tells you how good a race car we had.”
“I couldn’t believe our car was that good, but it was. I could adjust my driving line and style to each set of tires. I’d point and shoot and that thing ran. That’s all there was to it.”
“After the last three weeks, it was fun to go get out front and show these guys I could use my head and make smart decisions,” Dale Jr said “Even when I’ve got a real fast car and I’m not up front, I can be patient and pick my way through there.
“It was fun to prove that to them and prove my status as far as being a driver goes.”
The time of the race was 3 hours, 49 minutes, 12 seconds, at an average speed of 131.152 MPH.
There were 12 caution periods for a total of 62 laps.
Dale and Dale Jr in Victory Lane
Car owner and father Dale Earnhardt posted a 7th place finish parked his # 3 Chevrolet next to Victory Lane and joined his son to congratulate him in Victory Lane.
”He told me he loved me and then he said he just wanted to make sure I took the time to enjoy this and realize what we accomplished today,” Earnhardt Jr said.
”That was pretty cool on his part to be thinking about that at that particular time. This was a product of his work. He’s proud of his son, but he’s also proud that he built this team and the team won the race.”
As Dale Earnhardt watched his son celebrate his first Cup win he smiled and quipped ”That’s crazy, isn’t it.”
“I’ll tell you, he’s something else,” The Intimidator said, ”He was talking about coming to Texas and winning his first Winston Cup race. I knew the kid could do it. This kid has worked hard, had a good car and drove a good race.”
This was also the first Cup win for crew chief Tony Eury. ”It’s hard to keep him slowed down when the car’s good,” Eury quipped ”He wants to show it. We just keep him toned down all the time. He’s like a wild horse.”
He obviously had a good car. Earnhardt Jr continually built up big leads over the competition, only to have them erased by cautions. He took the lead for the final time on lap 289, passing DEI teammate Steve Park.
Earnhardt Jr’s best finish prior to this race was 10th in Las Vegas earlier in the season.
His first Busch Series victory also came at Texas Motor Speedway.
Photo Courtesy Hendrick Motorsports
