YEAR-BY-YEAR NASCAR NEXTEL CUP SERIES RECAP
2006 Finished fifth in series points. … Fourth career finish in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Top 10. … Finished with one win,
10 top fives and 17 top 10s. … Only victory came at Richmond in May.… Earned a berth in the Chase for the NASCAR
NEXTEL Cup following a one-year absence. … Voted NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver for a fourth consecutive year.
2005 Finished 19th in series points. … Captured his only victory under the leadership of DEI Technical Director Steve
Hmiel, who took over for crew chief Pete Rondeau after the spring Charlotte race. … Current crew chief Tony Eury Jr.
led the No. 8 team from the fall New Hampshire race to the end of the season. … Posted seven top fives and 13 top
10’s. … Voted NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver for the third consecutive year. … Ran a limited number of NASCAR
Busch Series races, posting a best finish of third at Daytona.
2004 Finished fifth in series points. … Had six victories, second only to the eight achieved by Jimmie Johnson. …
Victory in the Daytona 500 made the Dale Earnhardt Sr./Dale Earnhardt Jr. tandem only the third father/son combination
to win The Great American Race, along with Lee and Richard Petty and Bobby and Davey Allison. … Won two
restrictor-plate races and was the only driver to post top-10 finishes in each of the four restrictor-plate races. … Has
at least two wins in each of his five full-time seasons. … Had two NASCAR Busch Series victories while entering only
four races.
2003 Finished third in series points, his best career finish. … Was second in the championship points for 19 race
weekends, the latest ranking coming after Phoenix. … Posted two victories – Talladega in April and Phoenix in
November; his Talladega win was his record fourth straight at the superspeedway.… He narrowly missed a fifth consecutive
win at Talladega in September with a runner-up finish to DEI teammate Michael Waltrip; Earnhardt Jr.started
38th. … Also ran well on short tracks, leading all drivers with 880 points at those venues thanks to two top fives at
Martinsville, one at Richmond in May and a top 10 at the Bristol night race in August. … Posted career bests with 13
top fives and 21 top 10s, totals that were fourth and third in the series, respectively.… Led 24 races, a new career
high, also led 1,046 laps; Earnhardt Jr. and Ryan Newman were the only drivers to lead at least one lap in 24 of the
season’s 36 races. … Finished in the top 10 in nine of the season’s first 11 races; six of those finishes were top fives,
including his Talladega win. … Ran a limited NASCAR Busch Series schedule as a driver/owner (Chance 2
Motorsports), winning all three races he entered (both Daytona events and Talladega). … Voted NASCAR’s Most Popular
Driver, marking the first time a father and son have received the award; Earnhardt Sr. won posthumously in 2001.
2002 Finished 11th in series points. … Won two races, via season sweep at Talladega Superspeedway.… Won the No
Bull 5 Million-dollar bonus for the second consecutive season at Talladega with his October win. … Two poles, at
Michigan (August) and Kansas. … Led 1,068 laps, more laps than any other driver.… Finished second in all three nonpoints
races – the Budweiser Shootout, a Twin 125 qualifying race and the all-star event. … Recorded 11 top-five finishes,
16 top 10s and had the most consecutive top-five finishes (three) in his career.… Also posted career bests with
13 top five starts, and fewest DNFs (three). … Five short-track (Martinsville, Bristol and Richmond) finishes in the top
five. … Won in his first NASCAR Busch Series race as driver/owner at Richmond (Sept).
2001 Finished eighth in series points. … Scored a trio of dramatic, emotional victories. … First win came in July at
Daytona, the first race there since his father’s death in the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18. He held off DEI teammate Michael
Waltrip, to whom he finished second in February, for that win. … Next victory came at Dover in the series’ first race
back after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and he punctuated that win with a victory lap carrying an American flag.…
Third win came in October at Talladega, the site of his father’s final career victory a year earlier.… Talladega victory also earned him a $1 million bonus in the No Bull 5 program, helping him to a season total of $5,827,542 in winnings –
more than his father won in any of his 26 seasons in the series. … Finished with nine top-five finishes and 15 top 10s.
2000 Finished 16th in series points. … Made a big splash with two wins and two poles in his rookie season. … Came
up 42 points shy of winning the Raybestos Rookie of the Year title behind former NASCAR Busch Series foe Matt
Kenseth. … Joined Jeff Burton as second first-time winner at Texas Motor Speedway. … Along with Tony Stewart,
became second rookie in two years to win at Richmond when he won the Pontiac Excitement 400. … Became first
rookie to win the all-star race.
1999 Competed in five races. … Best start was eighth in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.… Best finish was 10th at
Richmond in September.
PREVIOUS RACING HISTORY
Won back-to-back NASCAR Busch Series Championships in 1998 and 1999, his only two full seasons of NASCAR
Busch Series competition. … Has won 20 races and more than $3 million in NASCAR Busch Series earnings.
…Entered three NASCAR Busch Series races and won all three in 2003. … Won six times with 22 top-10 finishes and
three poles in 1999. … Won seven races and three poles in 1998. … Scored his first NASCAR Busch Series victory
in his 16th start at Texas, where he would later get his first Cup win. … Made his NASCAR Busch Series debut at
Myrtle Beach, S.C. in 1996.… He started seventh and finished 14th. … Began his professional career at age 17 competing
in the street stock division at Concord Motorsport Park, later moving up to the late model stock division. …
First race car was a 1978 Chevrolet Monte Carlo that he owned along with his brother, Kerry. … Raced against Kerry
and sister Kelley at the beginning of his career.…Won three feature victories in his NASCAR Weekly Series late model
stock career (1994-1996). … When he raced in the Pepsi 400 at Michigan in 2000 along with his late father, Dale and
Kerry, it was the second time a father and two sons ran in the same Cup event. Lee Petty also raced against his sons,
Richard and Maurice.
NOTEWORTHY
Owner of JR Motorsports. ... Co-owner of Chance 2 Motorsports when that organization won consecutive NASCAR
Busch Series championships with driver Martin Truex Jr. in 2004 and '05. … Says his hero is his late father, seventime
series champion Dale Earnhardt. …His first NASCAR Busch Series title in 1998 made him NASCAR’s first thirdgeneration
champion coupled with his father’s record-tying seven NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series titles and grandfather
Ralph Earnhardt’s 1956 NASCAR Sportsman Division title. … Lists the Washington Redskins as his favorite sports
team.… 2006 Corvette Z 06, 2001 Corvette C5-R with LeMans wing, 2005 Corvette, 2001 “Intimidator SS” Camaro,
1996 Hummer, 2002 Mini Cooper and a Chevrolet Z-71 pickup are just some of the vehicles in his personal fleet.