MOORESVILLE, N.C. (April 29, 2016) - Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the reigning master of Talladega Superspeedway, winning six times on the 2.66-mile oval carved out of a World War II-era airfield. He last won there in this race last year, driving his favorite restrictor-plate car, dubbed “Amelia.”
Yet, as much as he’s won at Talladega, he’s still in the shadow of his famous father, who holds all the really important records there. Today, on what would have been Dale Sr.’s 65th birthday, it’s time to take a look at the numbers.
Earnhardt Jr. has won six races at Talladega, winning four straight between the fall race in 2001 and the spring race of 2003. He added the fall race in 2004 to his total, then hit a dry spell until breaking through last year in the spring event.
By comparison, Earnhardt Sr. was a Talladega machine. He won in the fall of 1983 and the fall of 1984 before sweeping both 1990 races. The fall races in 1991 and 1993 went to Dale Sr., as did the spring race in 1994. He swept again in 1999, and the last of his 76 career victories came in October 2000 at Talladega. In that race, Kenny Wallace pushed Earnhardt Sr. from 18th to the victory over the final handful of laps, making it one of the most stirring victories in recent memories.
His record 10 victories are accompanied by 23 top-five and 27 top-10 finishes in 44 races. All are records.
Taking lessons from his father, Earnhardt Jr. took to the track like a duck to water. After his father’s final Talladega triumph, only three drivers—Bobby Hamilton, Michael Waltrip and Jeff Gordon—other than Earnhardt Jr. were able to win there until 2005. He had another race snatched from him in 2006, when Brian Vickers turned Jimmie Johnson into Earnhardt Jr.’s leading Chevrolet on the final lap, giving him the win and Earnhardt Jr. a disappointing 23rd-place finish.
This weekend, Earnhardt Jr. enters as the prohibitive favorite to win again, and he’ll have his favorite car back as well.
In 2015, “Amelia” won a Duel race at Daytona, the May race at Talladega and the July race at Daytona, and finished third in the Daytona 500 and second at Talladega in the fall. Average-finish-wise, that’s 1.6 over five plate races, and it easily led all drivers. In this year’s Daytona 500, however, Earnhardt Jr. crashed late in the race and finished 36th.
He’s the defending race champion, he has a ridiculous average finish of 14.7 in his 32 Talladega starts, and he’ll have his favorite car under him this weekend. Earnhardt Jr.’s cars don’t get a name until they’ve done something to merit one: this one is a Talladega treasure.