Dale Earnhardt Jr. has had a fine racing career but he could have easily achieved more than what he did.
Well, the NASCAR Hall of Famer himself believes that he could have won more races than he did during his career. He won just 26 races in the span of 19 years at the top level. The closest he came to winning the Cup championship was in 2004 when he finished 5th and had 6 race wins that season. However, he does have two Xfinity series titles.
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Nonetheless, there is a feeling that Dale Jr. could have achieved much more given the talent and the resource he had at his disposal. In a recent interview for The Observer’s new “Sports Legends of the Carolinas” project, Dale Jr. reflected upon the decision that he regrets the most and that prevented him from winning more races. He said he could have won:
“Maybe 35-40 races. Yeah, for sure. I mean, we had the cars and the ability to go out there and make it happen.
“If I could talk to that version of myself — I would slap the s— out of me. I would. I’m so angry with that person, that decision, and that choice to split from Tony Sr. That was a bad, bad choice. I thought in my mind I was going to be better off with someone else, that man I bet you there’s somebody else who can give me better cars … And that decision had an effect on Tony Jr. and Tony Sr.’s life, moving forward, for years. And my life. My career.”
Dale Jr. worked with his uncle Tony Eury Sr. for the No. 8 car at Dale Earnhardt, Inc. The 2004 season was their final year together, where Dale Jr. won 6 races. The next year, Dale Jr. finished the season with just one win and was 21st in the final standings.
All part of growing up, if youre gonna be dumb you gotta be tough !
Dale take nascar back to stock car racing it can be done .get Dodge and any other brand that has the weight and horses to run .back in the day my friend
Sam ard built the car set the car up and drove the wheels off bring that back it was a man’s sport now I compare it to wrestling where one team has a monopoly over the others.and yes you made a mistake leaving family but God has let you see it so let them know jr’s learned his lesson
Yeah I remember watching 2004 Talladega Jr won and said shit daddy won here 10 times and my 5 in a row ain’t shit. I think it was 5 or 6 whatever that’s when Jr own Talladega he was awesome then. But besides I just want to know how in the hell did Jr get in the hall of fame and besides how fast he go in. There is plenty of drivers who got same stats as Jr and they ain’t in. Just curious if some hot shot could in lighten me. Hell Poor ole Jeff Burton had to hear Jr being called HOF and I believe he had won about as many as Jr. Ryan Newman had 20 something wins an Dayton 500 so ????
I’m a big fan Of Dale Earnhardt Jr and I watched him race every weekend until he retired.
My biggest dream I have always had is to meet Dall Earnhardt Jr and take the petty experience actually driving a Nascar at daytona super speed way but can’t get the funds to do either one .
My two boys did the Petty NASCAR Experience at Daytona and the loved it. I’m sure they do it again.
Because there isn’t. Everyone that was eligible and done more was already in. This is the NASCAR Hall Of Fame not the CUP Series Hall Of Fame. 2 time Busch champion driver, 2 time Daytona 500 champion, 15 consecutive Most Popular Driver awards, 3Oth all time CUP wins list, and 5 NASCAR National Series championships as team owner
As to why Dale Jr. Made in the Hall of Fame is he was the most popular driver for like 15 consecutive years. Also what he has contributed to racing and continues to better the sport
Yep 95% of time drives make lots of mistakes and blame crew chief when all they need to do I shut up and get up on the wheel
As we get older we reflect on times in our lives where we made decisions that have changed our careers. We’ve all made bad decision’s. I’ve experienced it first hand. My experience is you shut the door behind you and work your tail off to achieve your goals. Some have the drive to do that and some don’t have to because of what they were given. It’s easier for them when they are young to stay on the fun path because they can. The rest of us work to achieve success so we don’t have to think of where we thought we went wrong in our lives. Real success is not achieved by the amount of money you have from the work you didn’t put in. It’s achieved by the work you put in to be a Nascar Cup Series Champion! I chose the work hard path and achieved my goal.