Ranking Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Restrictor-Plate Wins
By Aaron Hale
2002 EA Sports 500
Coming in at number ten the 2002 EA Sports 500. This race became Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s third win in a row at Talladega Superspeedway.
In the wake of the 2001 Daytona 500 that look legend Dale Earnhardt, NASCAR was put in a position where they needed to respond and ensure another star wouldn’t be taken too soon. They decided to reduce the size of the fuel cell from 22 gallons down to 13 gallons. The hope was that more pit stops would spread the field out and break up large pack racing.
Their experiment was a success. There were 35 lead changes throughout the event, however, it was also caution-free with an average speed of 183.665 mph. Slow by today’s standards.
Earnhardt Jr. took the lead for the final time on lap 150 and never looked back. He led the final 39 laps en route to his second win of the 2002 Cup Series season.
This became the second race in two years that would go caution free at Talladega. The first was in 2001 when Bobby Hamilton went to victory lane for the last time in his Cup Series career.