Earnhardt Has Reason To Stick Around After 19 Years Of Quick Exits, He Lingers In Daytona To Savor 500 Win

When Dale Earnhardt woke up Monday, he found himself in Daytona Beach the day after the Daytona 500 for the first time in 20 years.

In the past, he never bothered to stick around once the race was over.

“After not winning it so many times for all those years, he always wanted to go home as soon as possible,” said Earnhardt’s wife, Teresa. “He would say, ‘We’re done; let’s go. Just forget it and let’s get out of here.’ He was never happy about being here much longer than he had to be.”

That changed Sunday when Earnhardt won the 40th Daytona 500 on his 20th try. This time, Earnhardt - a seven-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion - savored every last post-race moment.

He partied with his friends and family. He drank champagne on a pier with his wife after midnight. Then he tried to let it all sink in.

“I woke up this morning and still couldn’t believe I won the Daytona 500,” said Earnhardt, who also ended his 59-race winless streak with the victory at Daytona International Speedway.

Earnhardt also couldn’t believe he had to wake up before 8 a.m. Monday to deliver his winning car to Daytona USA, the motorsports attraction adjacent to the speedway. The No. 3 Chevrolet will remain there all year until the speedway returns it to just before next year’s 500.

Hundreds of fans lined up outside the facility in hopes of seeing Earnhardt hand over the car, some sleeping out on the sidewalk just to ensure a spot among the 180 people allowed in to see the ceremony and participate in a fan forum. The crowd roared when Earnhardt walked in.

“It feels tremendous,” said Earnhardt, who won a NASCAR-record $1,079,533 of the race’s $7 million purse and a place atop the points standings. “I wish every race car driver that ever runs Daytona could feel what we felt in Victory Lane yesterday.”

Talk to Terry Labonte about that.

Since winning the 500, Earnhardt has passed the burden of a Daytona 500 jinx over to Labonte, who hasn’t won the race in 20 attempts. Labonte has finished second three times - in 1986, ‘90 and ‘97, but remains winless after starting second Sunday and finishing 13th.

“Now everyone should go get on Terry now. Go ask him questions about why he hasn’t won the Daytona 500,” Earnhardt said. “That’s enough with me. I can’t answer those questions any more because I finally won. Now it’s his turn.”

Hardly anyone noticed Labonte’s trouble with the 500, until Earnhardt finally won it Sunday. Now the focus shifts from perhaps the most unlucky driver at the Daytona 500 to the No. 2 driver on that list. But Labonte - a two-time Winston Cup champion - can share his angst with other accomplished drivers who also haven’t won NASCAR’s greatest race.

Former Winston Cup champion Rusty Wallace hasn’t won in 16 tries. Daytona Beach’s Mark Martin hasn’t won in 14. Ricky Rudd has tried 21 times and failed. And that’s just to name a few.

“For us, it was a major disappointment year after year and the stress built it up, built it up and built up. People kept asking, ‘When is he going to win? Is this going to be the year?’ Then when he didn’t win, there were more people asking him why after the race than there were in Victory Lane,” Teresa Earnhardt said.

“It was a two-week ordeal we had to go through at the start of every season. They just have to deal with it in their own way and don’t let it bother them.”