Bristol Brawl: Dale Earnhardt Takes Out the Worst in Rusty Wallace After an Ugly Yet Iconic Short Track Showdown

What causes a racetrack to become a memory minefield? Short-track contact was essentially a regulation at Bristol Motor Speedway by 1995, and the circuit was already a coliseum of turmoil where tempers boiled more frequently than tires wore out. But it all got out of hand on one memorable summer night. Not with a championship on the line or a horrific crash—but with a seemingly insignificant move—until it wasn’t.

We’ve often seen the Intimidator ruffle the feathers of his rivals on the racetrack. But on Aug. 26, 1995, something changed, and Rusty Wallace stood up against Dale Earnhardt’s antics on the racetrack. With 10 races to go in the season, Earnhardt was willing to put his bumper to good use, but little did he expect that Wallace would retaliate post-race. And that event in itself would be etched in the NASCAR folklore. What’s more interesting is that the two drivers had agreed to take out NASCAR’s young prince, Jeff Gordon, out of the contention, but clearly, they went off-script.

Rusty Wallace was fuming after Dale Earnhardt didn’t execute their Bristol plan

Wallace had qualified 4th while Earnhardt was starting right behind him. With five race wins, Jeff Gordon was mounting a title charge, and Earnhardt was looking to put a pause on his run to bag his eighth Cup Series championship. Interestingly, both Wallace and Earnhardt had agreed to take Gordon out of the race, “Earnhardt says to me: When this race starts, let’s just go on up there and put a bumper to him, get him out of the way, and then we’ll just check out and get gone and go win this damn race between you and me.” Well, Wallace was sold on this proposition, stating, “OK, man, you got it, partner, let’s do it.”

The plan was in motion, and Gordon was quickly mired in traffic after he received some harsh treatment from his two rivals. But with 32 laps into the race, the No. 3 Chevy nudged into the No. 2 Penske Racing Ford, and this contact saw Wallace get spun around on Turn 4. The Penske Racing camp was furious, and the NASCAR officials agreed with their sentiments. Back then, they didn’t wait until Wednesday to make a decision call, and they black flagged Earnhardt and sent him to the rear.

Despite the setback, Earnhardt rallied and bagged a runner-up finish, but his friend Rusty Wallace was eager to have words with him after the race. And the Intimidator made his way out of his race car, a flying bottle thumped right into his forehead. It was his friend Wallace, who clearly was fuming with the incident that happened early in the race. “I wanted to him like in the chest or the arm, well I missed, I hit him right damn in the middle of the forehead. He turned around, and we started throwing barbs about Talladega. There is a bunch of big mouthing going on, but totally over the next race.” Wallace revealed later.

While both Earnhardt and Wallace were going off, involved in a war of words, Terry Labonte was enjoying his win. But, when the dust settled, it wasn’t Labonte’s win but the scuffle between the two star drivers that made the headline. While all of this happened, Jeff Gordon bagged a P6 finish and victory at Darlington, and Dover would see him bag his maiden NASCAR Championship. On the other hand, Dale Earnhardt, despite winning at Martinsville and Atlanta, couldn’t close the gap on the rising NASCAR star. 1994 was the Intimidator’s seventh and final Cup Series triumph, while Gordon would go on to script his success story, winning three more championships.

However, this post-race altercation wasn’t the last one the Bristol Motor Speedway witnessed. Speaking about throwing objects at your rivals, Tony Stewart took it a notch above when he used his helmet to express his anger at the Last Great Colosseum back in 2012.

Smoke was in his element during the 2012 Bristol race

It was Lap 333 of the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol when Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth were trading paint off each other’s race cars. But coming off turns 3 and 4, both drivers were tangled and didn’t give each other an inch. As they came banging on the frontstretch, both of them were sideway, with Stewart’s car making contact with the inside wall. Kenseth was able to fire off, but Stewart wasn’t going anywhere before he could vent out his frustration.

The race was under caution, and Smoke was waiting on Kenseth to roll back around after hitting the pit road. As soon as he saw his rival come off the pits, he grabbed hold of his helmet with two hands and flung it onto the hood of No. 17 Ford. The crowd in the stands went absolutely mental, and the cheers were the loudest of the night as Stewart wound them further. He had no filter when asked about the incident. “We learned our lesson. Next time, just drive through him. We’re not going to give him that chance.”

Interestingly, NASCAR didn’t fine Stewart for his antics but confiscated his helmet. Well, when Stewart called it quits from racing in 2016, he got back his iconic helmet, and it was Kenseth who handed it over to him as a retirement gift.