No one entered the 1998 NASCAR season under more pressure than Dale Earnhardt Jr.

As the son of the seven-time Winston Cup champion, he would be under a constant microscope. Win, and he was expected to. Struggle, and he’s a failure, a second-generation driver incapable of filling his father’s giant shoes.

If that wasn’t enough pressure, he joined a team that has won 24 Busch Series races, 21 with Earnhardt Sr. and three last year with Steve Park.

And he’s driving for uncles, cousins and family friends who worship the ground his father walks on and who helped make him the legend he is.

At age 23, he stepped into a no-win situation. And he readily admits he wasn’t sure if he could do it.

“He’s funneled several large amounts of money into my program the last five years to see whether I could evolve and have enough experience and talent to drive for somebody someday,” Earnhardt Jr. says of his legendary father.

“I got a shot to drive for him, and it’s working out. (But) I was curious whether it was going to work and I was curious whether I was going to get the job done. I’m just glad we’re getting it done.”

He proved his worth at Texas Motor Speedway, winning the Coca-Cola 300 with a dramatic, last-lap move reminiscent of his famous father. With thousands of Earnhardt fans cheering him on, Earnhardt Jr. lived up to the family name, picking up his first career Busch Series victory.

“Pretty awesome,” his father said from victory lane, fighting hard to check his emotions. “I couldn’t be prouder. I felt as good as if it was me winning the Daytona 500.”

Later, after gathering himself, Earnhardt Sr. put his feelings in perspective.

“You hope your kids turn out OK, and then when they take up what you do, you worry about ‘em because of the danger factor,” he said.

“You hope he’s going to be all right in his endeavors, then he hops in a Busch car and takes up right where Steve Park left off last year. What can you say? He looks like he’s been doing it for awhile.”

He looked like the Earnhardt of old when he put a fender to Joe Nemechek in turn four, nudging him just enough to dive to the inside and take the lead on the white-flag lap. It was a move he’s seen his father make a hundred times.

Afterward, in the ‘aw shucks’ fashion that has become an Earnhardt trademark, he shrugged it off like it was no big deal.

“We had been passing cars like that all day long,” he said. “It just seemed like he was the last one in line to pass. We’ve been doing it every race. We’ve been passing cars right and left. I don’t think we’ve been passed all year.

Indeed Earnhardt has been closing in on his first career victory since the season’s third race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He was second at Vegas, third the next week at Nashville, 10th at Darlington and second again at Bristol.

He hasn’t just been knocking on the door. He’s been trying to kick it in.

“We’ve had winning equipment every week,” he said. “That’s why we’re sitting in the points lead and why we’re running second and winning races. The only problem we’ve had this year was a few problems I had getting in and out of the pits and that little flip I had on the backstretch at Daytona. Other than that, our year has been great.”

Remarkably, Earnhardt is the Busch Series points leader seven races into what amounts to his rookie season. He and pole-sitter Elliott Sadler, who finished second with his own last-lap pass, sit atop the standings, setting up a title chase between two of NASCAR’s rising stars.

Add Matt Kenseth, who won at Rockingham, to the mix and Winston Cup drivers are suddenly having a harder time stealing Busch Series wins.

The well-groomed Earnhardt even played the part of an unassuming veteran. He is quick to credit his crew and his equipment.

Asked if he was surprised by his quick ascent to the top, Earnhardt said, “I’m surprised how good my car drives.

“All those years I was driving my Late Model cars, I set ‘em up, but I reckon I didn’t know what I was doing, because these cars drive a whole lot better than mine did.

“I don’t matter whether it’s Joe Nemechek or Elliott Sadler or whoever is in front of you, when you mash the gas and turn the wheel and go right by ‘em, anybody could be sitting up there the way them cars drive.”

He made it look easy against Nemechek, who led three times for 83 laps and had the fastest car throughout the 200-lap race. Twice Earnhardt drove his car through the field, dropping subtle hints that he might have the car to beat.

On lap 86, he moved by Sadler for third and was stalking Tony Stewart when Jimmy Foster’s crash brought out a caution on lap 98.

Another caution for a four-car crash on lap 105, Earnhardt came down pit road to fix a tire rub. He sank to 29th in the field, but topped off his fuel tank, giving him the edge in case the race turned into a fuel-mileage finish.

As he steadily worked his way back into the top 10, the strategy appeared to be working. As the leaders pitted one by one for fuel, he inherited the lead when Elliott Sadler pitted on lap 181.

Three laps later, Jimmy Spencer slammed the wall in turn two, causing the sixth of seven cautions. With the race apparently in his hands, Earnhardt made a surprising move, darting down pit road and giving up the lead.

But with four fresh tires and only a handful of cars on the lead lap, he suddenly had the advantage.

“The strategy just played right into our hands,” he said. “Toward the end of the race, we were going to see if we could make it on gas, and if that didn’t work out and a caution came out, we would come in and get tires and we would be one of the few cars on the lead lap. Everything that we thought was a problem at one time ended up helping us.”

When the race was restarted on lap 190, Glenn Allen held the lead ahead of Nemechek and Earnhardt. That changed quickly when Nemechek slammed into the back of Allen on the restart, sending him spinning across the frontstretch grass and into Dale Jarrett.

That set up a showdown between the young Earnhardt and Nemechek, the 1992 series champion and now a Winston Cup veteran.

Nemechek sped away on the restart with five laps to go, but when his new tires heated up, Earnhardt began to reel him in. With the crowd of nearly 100,000 on its feet, all seemingly cheering for the blue No. 3, Earnhardt closed in on Nemechek’s bumper on lap 199.

As they charged into turn four, Earnhardt latched onto Nemechek’s bumper like a magnet, making him wiggle just enough to create an opening inside. The two crossed the start/finish line side by side before Earnhardt forged ahead going into turn one.

“He had been running some pretty good lines prior to the last one,” Earnhardt said. “I don’t know whether his car started pushing or what, but that last lap, it just looked like he had a little trouble coming up off the corner, and we just got a good run on him and got underneath him.

“A lapped car kinda got in his way, but I was going under him whether that lapped car was there or not.”

With the lead in hand, Earnhardt ran the fastest lap of the race after taking the white flag.  When he took the checkered flag, he did it with a rebel yell.

“I just started screaming,” he said. “I was just real happy. The guys have been working in the shop a lot of late nights and putting a lot of effort into this. We should have won a couple of races already this year. It’s about time we finally got one.”

“He gets a little excited on the radio sometimes, like I used to,” Earnhardt Sr. said.

With his first career victory, Earnhardt wrote his name in the NASCAR history books. He is the first third-generation driver to win in the Busch Series.

His father won 21 Busch races and his grandfather, the late Ralph Earnhardt, was the 1956 champion of the Late Model Sportsman Division, which is now the Busch Series.

Afterward, Earnhardt Jr. reflected on his family heritage and his place in history.

“I’m real proud of my family and real proud to be involved with my father and to be able to drive for him,” he said. “Winning with this team that I have known for so many years and winning in front of my father and him being at the race track, that just overshadows everything.

“It’s important. I’m proud of my father and my grandfather and what they’ve done. I’m just glad that I’m able to be successful at it, too. Growing up all them years, you wondered if you had what it took.”

His father knew all along.

“I guess he watched his granddaddy Ralph enough,” Earnhardt said. “He was just awesome today. I can’t believe it.”

See Also:

1998 Coca-Cola 300 Photo Gallery (coming soon)