Top 15 Greatest Finishes In NASCAR History

11. 1998 Daytona 500: Earnhardt finally wins at Daytona

This may not have been an exciting finish in a traditional sense, especially since it didn’t feature a pass for the lead or a photo finish, but the implications of Dale Earnhardt’s win that day more than made up for that. In fact, the implications and the way the race played out is the reason why this still goes down as one of the best finishes of all time.

Dale Earnhardt was dominant throughout the entirety of Speedweek’s that year, winning his qualifying race and finishing third in that year’s Budweiser qualifier. While these were both strong indicators of Earnhardt’s chances to win it all in that year’s Daytona 500, his 19 failed attempts at winning the race in the past still cast a lot of doubt in NASCAR fans minds.

Despite the 19 failed attempts still hanging over his head and the memories of the bizarre ways he lost the race still haunting his memories, Earnhardt led 107 laps in the 1998 Daytona 500 and ended up beating Bobby Labonte to the line to win The Great American race under caution.

With the Daytona 500 win finally on his resume and a promising season ahead of him, Earnhardt drove down pit lane to be congratulated by the entire racing community and then went to the infield for some well-deserved burnouts.

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