Victory Pleases One and All

DAYTONA BEACH Fla. —  Crusty old Dale Earnhardt, three months from 47, admitted to being teary-eyed when he came off the fourth turn after winning the Daytona 500 to find crews from all his adversaries lined up along pit road to congratulate him.

“My eyes watered up in the race car, I don’t think I really cried,” he said later, his bushy mustache quivering as he spoke.

“It was pretty awesome, all the guys coming up congratulating me, giving me high fives and thumbs up--Michael Waltrip, Rusty, all the guys.

“I knew a few guys would come out, but to see all of them lined up like that, that was pretty impressive. I thought Andy Petree [owner of Ken Schrader’s car] was going to climb in the car with me. That’s memories no one can take away from us.”

After creeping along, shaking hands and chatting with the crews, Earnhardt suddenly drove his Chevrolet Monte Carlo onto the sacred grass of Daytona’s infield and spun a couple of doughnuts over the DAYTONA logo painted in the lawn.

“I wanted to get a little Daytona on that car so I could take it with me over to Daytona USA.”

The No. 3 car, owned by Richard Childress, will be impounded in Daytona USA for a year, the prize exhibition of NASCAR’s testimonial to itself.

When a NASCAR official reminded Earnhardt that he needed to get up early Monday in order to be present at the 9 a.m. ceremony, the grinning winner replied, “There’s no problem, I’ll still be up celebrating. We started our celebration in that brand new victory lane, we got champagne and Coca-Cola all over the place. I don’t know where we’re going [to celebrate] but when we get done there, we’ll go somewhere else.

“You won’t have to drag me out of bed. I ain’t going to bed.”

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Sixth-place finisher Ernie Irvan said what most of the other drivers felt about Earnhardt finally winning the 500:

“Like I said before the race, if I can’t win, I’d love him to win it. I’m going to do everything I can to keep him from winning, but it was great he won. I race in this sport and race against him, and I’d say he’s as good or better than any other race car driver on the race track, plus all of them that were the 50 greatest of NASCAR.”

Jeff Gordon, at 27 the heir apparent to Earnhardt’s mantle as Winston Cup’s No. 1 driver and last year’s Daytona winner, said, “I’m excited for him. We all want to win the Daytona 500, but as many times as he’s been so, so close, he deserves it and he’s earned it.”

Pole-sitter Bobby Labonte, who finished a strong second, said he worked the draft with Earnhardt early in the race, but wasn’t surprised when he couldn’t catch him at the end.

“I had a feeling all winter he was going to win it,” he said. “I guess I should have gone out and bet on him. I’ve got to congratulate him. Right there at the end I knew I didn’t have enough power to get by him.”

Rusty Wallace, one of Earnhardt’s hunting buddies, said he was happy for Dale, but that “next year it’s my turn.”

Wallace is winless in 17 Daytona 500s.