Today is the 14th anniversary of the emotional 2001 Daytona 500, a race that saw NASCAR lose Dale Earnhardt, its greatest star at the time. In the months leading up to the race, many notable things happened. Earnhardt had scored a come-from-behind win in October of 2000 at Talladega in the first race with the restrictor plate package that would be used at the stock car events of the 2001 Daytona Speedweeks. Earnhardt had also signed Michael Waltrip, then the driver of Ultra Motorsports' #7 Nations Rent Chevrolet, to drive the new #15 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet starting in 2001. Meanwhile, Michael's brother Darrell Waltrip, a three-time Winston Cup champion, ended his driving career after the 2000 Atlanta season finale and joined Mike Joy and former Earnhardt crew chief Larry McReynolds in the broadcast booth of new NASCAR broadcaster Fox. Finally, Dodge was coming back to NASCAR, and the teams who had signed to field Dodges starting in 2001 were Bill Davis Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing (known before '01 as Team SABCO), new team Evernham Motorsports (whose owner Ray Evernham, previously Jeff Gordon's championship crew chief, helped kick off Dodge's NASCAR return), Melling Racing and Petty Enterprises.
NASCAR had also endured several tragedies in 2000. In May, a month after making his Winston Cup debut at Texas, fourth-generation driver Adam Petty died in a crash during Busch Series practice at New Hampshire, just shy of his 20th birthday. Two months later, third-year Winston Cup driver Kenny Irwin Jr. died in a Cup practice crash also at New Hampshire, in almost the same spot where Petty died. Finally, in October, Craftsman Truck Series driver Tony Roper was severely injured in a crash during a race at Texas, on the same evening that future Cup star Greg Biffle clinched the series championship, and died the next day. Despite these deaths, the NASCAR community was eager to press on.
Daytona Speedweeks in 2001 was full of action, a far cry from the previous year's Daytona 500 and its associated events which had featured very little passing, mostly single file racing and dominance by the Fords, specifically the Robert Yates Racing cars of Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd, and to an extent Roush Racing drivers Jeff Burton and Mark Martin. But the new restrictor plates allowed for more competition at Daytona this time around. The same restricted engine that had allowed Dale Earnhardt to go from 17th to first in the final four laps at Talladega the previous fall also allowed Tony Stewart and Sterling Marlin to pass Earnhardt late in the Budweiser Shootout and first Gatorade Duel qualifying race, respectively, and the elder Earnhardt's teammate Mike Skinner to barely beat Dale Earnhardt Jr. to the line in the second Duel. Now the stage was set for a great Daytona 500. Dale Earnhardt's team now consisted of Steve Park, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip, and they would race together with several other drivers.
The race would ultimately feature 49 lead changes, a good 40 more than the previous year. This time, the Chevrolets and the new Dodges spent almost the whole race up front, and Dodge had even swept the front row with Bill Elliott and Stacy Compton taking the top qualifying spots. Early leaders included Ward Burton, Mike Skinner and Sterling Marlin. Earnhardt, Earnhardt Jr., Waltrip and Park all eventually led as well, as did Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and other big names. On lap 174, all hell broke loose. Robby Gordon rear-ended Ward Burton on the backstretch, spinning him into Tony Stewart. Stewart flipped wildly across the track, ending up next to his teammate Bobby Labonte, whose car had fire coming from it. The crash collected several other drivers including Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, defending race champion Dale Jarrett, Steve Park, Terry Labonte and rookies Andy Houston and Jason Leffler. Earnhardt, Dale Jr. and Michael were ahead of the crash when it happened, as were other drivers like Ken Schrader, Ricky Rudd and Mike Wallace. Sterling Marlin was behind the crash after making an unscheduled pit stop, but was able to get past it.
After the crash, NASCAR displayed the red flag. When the race resumed, the leaders made their last pit stops. The race went green on lap 180. Earnhardt Jr., Marlin and Earnhardt traded the lead before Waltrip took it for good. Besides these four drivers, others in the lead pack during the final laps included Ken Schrader, Bill Elliott, Ricky Rudd, Rusty Wallace, Mike Wallace, Bobby Hamilton and Jeremy Mayfield. However, all attention would be focused on the DEI cars of Michael and Dale Jr., and the Earnhardt #3. As the laps wound down, Marlin and Schrader were leading the pack of cars behind the three leaders.
The white flag was in the air. Dale Jr. was trying to get past his teammate, their cars ahead of all of the other leaders. Meanwhile, the elder Earnhardt was trying to block said other leaders, with Marlin and Schrader almost getting past him, and Rusty Wallace getting in the mix. Suddenly, coming off the third turn, with Marlin right on Earnhardt's bumper, Earnhardt got loose and went toward the bottom of the track, then veered sharp right up the steep banking and slammed straight into the wall. Rusty barely missed hitting Dale, but Schrader had nowhere to go and plowed into Earnhardt's car. The two cars went back across the track and across the turn 4 infield grass, and stopped in the grass. As all this was going on, two of Earnhardt's drivers, Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr., finished first and second in NASCAR's greatest race. It was Waltrip's first Winston Cup in in 463 starts.
Waltrip, whose brother Darrell was emotional in the broadcast booth after cheering him on to the win, went to victory lane and began his celebration. But his car owner wasn't there. Nor was his teammate who helped him finally win in NASCAR's top series, and in the Daytona 500 of all races. Schrader had gone to Earnhardt's car and signalled for paramedics. The safety crew began removing Earnhardt from his car. Dale Jr. knew his father had crashed and ran toward the infield care center. He and his stepmother Teresa were directed to go to the nearby Halifax Medical Center, where they would soon be joined by other drivers, crew members, car owners and NASCAR officials. Waltrip knew none of this until Schrader went to victory lane and explained the situation to him. After that, Waltrip couldn't celebrate anymore.
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