By Sarah Handy, Staff Writer
In this week’s edition of Flashback Friday, Kickin’ The Tires relives when seven-time NASCAR Champion and Hall of Famer, Dale Earnhardt won the Pontiac Excitement 400 from Richmond Raceway in the No. 3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.
In a race dominated by Dale Earnhardt and fellow competitor Ricky Rudd, it was Earnhardt who was ultimately able to come out on top for his first victory of the 1991 season for Richard Childress Racing.
Earnhardt made a very rare mistake coming to the white flag for the 400-lap event. Earnhardt on his throttle too much coming out of turn four caused the rear wheels of his No. 3 Chevrolet to lose traction, but only for a moment.
With Earnhardt’s slip up, Rudd was able to take full advantage as he drove to the inside of Earnhardt and the two began a battle to the checkered flag.
However, Earnhardt was able to drive deeper into turn three, capture the lead and hold off Rudd for the victory in the Pontiac Excitement 400 from Richmond Raceway.
“It was a good last-lap race,’ Earnhardt said. “And after the race, Ricky came over to victory lane and dumped some Gatorade on me. We’ve had some problems, some harsh feelings in the past. Maybe this will set things straight and we can race clean from now on.”
Dale’s Career:
Even if you haven’t followed NASCAR for years, chances are you’ve heard of Dale Earnhardt also known as “The Intimidator”.
Unfortunately, Dale lost his life during the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 on February 18, 2001.
However, his legacy continues to live on today and he certainly built quite the racing resume for himself and is considered one of the best to ever get behind the wheel of a race car.
In a Cup career that spanned 27 years, Earnhardt amassed 76 wins, 281 Top-5s, 428 Top-10, and 22 pole awards in 676 starts.
Earnhardt is tied with Richard Petty and Jimmie Johnson with seven NASCAR Championships, and is a 2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee.
Earnhardt has earned many other awards and claimed other records not named in this story in his career but to list them all here would take quite some time.
