Dale Earnhardt’s Former Crew Chief Reveals the Untold Side of the Intimidator’s Only Daytona 500 Victory

It is well documented that winning the Daytona 500 was one of Dale Earnhardt Sr’s biggest career goals. Despite winning the Cup Series a record-equaling seven times, The Great American Race was of great value to The Intimidator. When he finally achieved that goal in the 1998 season, it was like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. But there was a lot of confusion going on behind the scenes at the time.

Dale Earnhardt was leading the 1998 Daytona 500 when with just a couple of laps to go, John Andretti and Lake Speed made contact and spun. While Dale Sr went on to win the race, his former crew chief recently revealed that there was chaos in the pit lane leading up to the finish.

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In a recent episode of Kenny Conversation with Kenny Wallace, Dale Earnhardt Sr’s former crew chief at Richard Childress Racing Larry McReynolds spoke about that monumental day at the Daytona Speedway. Speaking about the Andretti-Speed incident, McReynolds explained how he made sure Earnhardt did not take his foot off the gas, literally and figuratively. The former crew chief also explained how taking the white flag and the caution was cause for confusion and chaos.

“There was so much chaos in our pits, that was back when we used to race back to the caution and we had taken the two to go. John Andretti and somebody got together on the back straightaway and that brought the caution out. So Danny Culler, our spotter, was on it. “You gotta bring it back, we’re racing back to the caution,” and I remember obviously when we took the white flag, we took the white flag and the caution,” the 64-year-old said.

Winning the Daytona 500 was not just a big deal for Dale Earnhardt Sr alone. The people working with him felt similar pressure of getting the ‘Ironhead’ to achieve his lifelong dream. When that dream was realized in 1998, Larry McReynolds revealed that it was like a huge weight had been taken off his shoulders.

“Finally, I said, “Dale, make sure you make this lap at a good speed. And Kenny, I think he ran that lap about as fast you run any lap in the race, making sure he had made it back and I felt the biggest relief. I felt like the weight of the world was off my shoulders,” the NASCAR veteran added.

The situation for Earnhardt when the caution fell might not have seemed too risky at that time. But McReynolds revealed that there was something else that worried him throughout the race.

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Larry McReynolds revealed that The Intimidator’s #3 car had undergone an engine change ahead of the main race. He was on edge throughout the 1998 Daytona 500 and things did not get better when the final caution fell. “We had changed engines race morning because we had a problem in final practice…so I was pretty uptight when that race started,” he said.

Dale Earnhardt Sr’s Daytona 500 win was something that was long-anticipated in the NASCAR world. When he finally achieved the feat, the on-track celebrations were absolutely wild. It truly was a memorable moment in the sport’s history, one that will live on forever.

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