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NASCAR: Richard Petty vs. Dale Earnhardt – Who is the GOAT?

By Asher Fair

A mural with portraits of racing drivers Dale Earnhardt (left) and Richard Petty, surrounded by the text: 'Welcome Race Fans', at the Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee, 24th August 2001. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Allsport/Getty Images)
A mural with portraits of racing drivers Dale Earnhardt (left) and Richard Petty, surrounded by the text: 'Welcome Race Fans', at the Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee, 24th August 2001. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Allsport/Getty Images) /
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The championship of the NASCAR “GOAT” poll is set. Who is the sport’s greatest driver of all-time, Richard Petty or Dale Earnhardt Sr.?

NASCAR fans have spoken, and the two drivers set to be matched up against one another in the fourth and final round, the championship round, of the NASCAR “GOAT” poll, are Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr.

Petty was the #1 seed in the 16-driver bracket that has been narrowed down to just two drivers over the last few weeks. Earnhardt, meanwhile, was the #3 seed behind Petty and #2 Jimmie Johnson.

For more information about this entire “GOAT” poll process and how the seeds were determined, click on the link below.

Will be starting the first round of polls shortly.Here are the seeds for the Formula 1, IndyCar and NASCAR…

Posted by Beyond the Flag on Monday, January 14, 2019

Petty advanced to the NASCAR GOAT poll championship by defeating #16 Tim Flock in the first round, the round of 16, before defeating #8 Bobby Allison in the second round, the round of 8, and #5 Jeff Gordon in the third round, the round of 4.

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Petty received 97% of the vote in his round of 16 matchup with Flock while Flock received the other 3%. In his round of 8 matchup with Allison, Petty received 85% of the vote while Allison received the other 15%, and in his round of 4 matchup with Gordon, Petty received 60% of the vote while Gordon received the other 40%.

Earnhardt advanced to the NASCAR GOAT poll championship by defeating #14 Rusty Wallace in the round of 16 before defeating #6 Darrell Waltrip in the round of 8 and #2 Jimmie Johnson in the round of 4.

Earnhardt received 87% of the vote in his round of 16 matchup with Wallace while Wallace received the other 13%. In his round of 8 matchup with Waltrip, Earnhardt received 88% of the vote while Waltrip received the other 12%, an in his round of 4 matchup with Johnson, Earnhardt received 78% of the vote while Johnson received the other 22%.

So who is the GOAT?

Statistics do not always tell the full story. That said, I will leave you with a few of them before the poll between these two drivers begins.

Petty competed in the NASCAR Cup Series for 35 seasons, and he drove full-time in 32 of them. Throughout his career in the sport, he drove in an all-time record 1,185 races. He won an all-time record seven championships (tied with Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt), and he also earned an all-time record 200 victories and led an all-time record 51,695 laps.

Earnhardt competed in the NASCAR Cup Series for 27 seasons, and he drove full-time in 23 of them, but his 23rd and final season as a full-time driver in the sport, the 2001 season, was cut short when he was killed as a result of a crash in the season’s first race, the Daytona 500.

Throughout his career in the sport, Earnhardt drove in a total of 676 races. He won all-time record seven championships (tied with Richard Petty and Jimmie Johnson), and he also earned 76 victories and led 25,683 laps.

Next. Top 10 NASCAR drivers of all-time. dark

Who is the greatest NASCAR driver of all-time, Richard Petty or Dale Earnhardt? Vote for who you believe deserves this title at any time on our Facebook page from 6:00 a.m. ET tomorrow (Thursday, January 31) through 6:00 a.m. ET on Friday, February 1.

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