Talladega Throwback: 20 Years Since Dale Earnhardt Won His Last Ever NASCAR Race

This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series heads to the Talladega Superspeedway for the next playoff round. The occasion is actually quite special because it marks the 20th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt’s final win.

This win was truly memorable because Earnhardt started the race down in 17th place. In the final few laps, he slotted behind Kenny Wallace and picked up a draft, getting dragged along for the ride.

Recently, Wallace cast his mind back to that race after his final pit stop. He was struggling because the stop was extremely slow, but he was quite surprised when he spotted Earnhardt behind him.

“We had a caution and I came down pit road and Jimmy Elledge my crew chief at the time called for two tires, right sides only and we had a mistake and Jimmy said just come around to the left side, let’s change all four,” Wallace recalled.

Wallace was aware that he was the last man in the pit lane. So he was baffled when he saw Earnhardt’s Richard Childress Racing car in his mirror.

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How did Dale Earnhardt pull off his last NASCAR win?

On the last lap of the race, Earnhardt took the lead from his teammate Mike Skinner. However, his job was far from over as he had to fend off Wallace and Joe Nemechek at the checkered flag.

“When we got close to (John) Andretti’s car it just kind of moved up the tri-oval and we just went right by him,” Wallace continued. “When the race was over, I remember Earnhardt he had a drink in his hand later that night. I looked at him and I said, ‘How did we get by Andretti?’

“And I promise you, my hand on a Bible, he never even said a word. He shrugged his shoulders. It was almost as Earnhardt knew how to position his car on Andretti.”

According to Skinner, Dale Sr. was exceptional at pulling off miracles. In spite of not having a race-winning car, he somehow managed to eke out an unexpected win.