Earnhardt Finds That Winning Daytona 500 Is Elusive

It should be the simplest of equations: Dale Earnhardt is the best; the Daytona 500 is the biggest; ergo Dale Earnhardt must win the Daytona 500.

Simple? Yes. True? Not yet.

Much to Earnhardt’s chagrin, the six-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion has failed to win stock car racing’s Super Bowl event in 15 tries.

Some of them have been agonizingly close.

Last February, Earnhardt was leading with one lap to go on Daytona International Speedway’s 2 1/2-mile oval but lost a stirring duel with Dale Jarrett.

In 1991, he crashed with Davey Allison while the two were battling for the lead late in the race. The race finished under the ensuing caution flag with Ernie Irvan winning.

In 1990, Earnhardt led halfway through the final lap only to run over a piece of debris coming off Turn 2. A shredded tire nearly sent him careening into a wall. He was able to right the car and finish, but the Daytona 500 was gone again.

In 1986, he ran out of gas while leading with two laps to go.

“It’s a tough thing to do,” Earnhardt said, “come down here and prepare as hard as you do over the winter and put all that effort into winning that race and then lead the laps and dominate the way we have and then lose it, not once, not twice, but three or four times.

“That weighs on you as a driver, a car owner, a crew chief and a team. We’ve had some devastating losses. It’s hard to have to lose and take it. It’s tough to get out of that race car and face that crowd of reporters all asking you what it feels like to run second again.

“But those scars heal,” Earnhardt said. “I still remember ‘90, when the tire blew, and ‘86, when we ran out of gas. I will always remember it. But the pain of it all goes away. We’ve won three (series) championships since we blew that tire in ’90.”

Despite the pressure that builds right up to the start of the Daytona race, Earnhardt tries to keep things in perspective.

Coming off a championship season, The Intimidator trails Richard Petty’s record seven season titles by just one. It’s a record he covets, as much from his respect for the now-retired Petty, stock car racing’s all-time king, as his determination to keep winning as long as he can.

“If I had to make a choice (between winning Daytona and winning another championship)--and I’d hate to have to do that--I’d take the championship,” Earnhardt said. “We’ve worked so hard at winning that race and been so close so many times. We’ve led laps, a lot of laps. We’ve dominated that race at times. So, if we never win, I’ll still feel some comfort in knowing we were usually a threat.”

Earnhardt has recorded eight top-five Daytona 500 finishes, including second place in 1984 and last year.

Little has changed as preparations begin for the Feb. 20 race. At 42, Earnhardt is still in his prime and he likely will be at least one of the men to beat, if not the clear-cut favorite.

“All I can say is we’re going to keep coming down here to win the race,” he said emphatically. “We’re bound and determined to . . . defeat that race and be a Daytona 500 winner.

“It’s tough because of the competition. Every race is tough because of the competition, and then you multiply that for Daytona because everybody puts so much time into trying to win that race.”

It took three-time Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip 17 years to win the Daytona 500, in 1989. Until he won it, Waltrip had to answer the same questions and take the same heat and put up with the same frustration that Earnhardt has lived with.

“It isn’t something that eats at you all the time,” Waltrip said. “But it is the first race of the year and the focus on it is tremendous. Everybody is asking you about it all winter and everything just builds and builds for that race. Then, when you don’t win it, the questions begin again.

“Winning it is like getting a huge weight off your shoulders. I feel for Dale, but I’m going to try to beat him again.”

Earnhardt, that perspective showing through again, said, “What all has won this race doesn’t drive me. I wan to win the Daytona 500 because it’s our Super Bowl, but also because it’s a race and I want to win every race I run.

“As fortunate as I have been in racing, I don’t think it’s going to devastate me if I don’t win the Daytona 500. But I still feel like I have several years ahead of me to win and a team that’s capable of winning. So, we’re just going to take our shots at it.”