"He just had a way of proving you wrong" - When Dale Earnhardt Jr. opened up on Dale Sr. after his first Daytona 500 win 

In 2004, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the biggest race of his career. Junior, still relatively young at 30, took the checkered flag at the Daytona 500, the very race his father unfortunately died in just three years earlier.

During the biggest race of the year in 2004, Dale Jr. injected new life into the packed stands as he took the lead on Lap 181 from Tony Stewart. Junior would go on to win the race which his father took 20 attempts to win, the 7x Cup champion finally winning it in 1998.

Following his win, Dale Jr. thanked the fans and looked back on his father's legacy at Daytona International Speedway. Dale Jr.'s 2004 win was his 9th at the superspeedway in his career. While he would win the Daytona 500 again in 2014, this pales in front of his father's record of 34 wins at Daytona.

After his 2004 win, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said that while he sometimes he felt as good as his father, there were reminders that "what he did that you will never be able to do." He said (via New York Times)

"There's days when I feel like I am as good as he was. But, you know, then you're reminded by something that reminds you of what he did that you will never be able to do. There's times on the racetrack where I get real confident and feel like...he couldn't have done it no better than that right there.

"But it ain't long before I figure I was wrong. I mean, he was pretty tough. Even if you thought you were better than him, he just had a way of proving you wrong at anything."

But he added that it'd been a long time since he raced against Dale Sr., or watched him race. So it was easy for him to forget just how good the Intimidator was behind the wheel of a racecar.

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When Dale Earnhardt Jr. opened up on what his father Dale Sr. would've thought of his HoF induction

In 2021, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. The former DEI and HMS driver joined his father, the 7x Cup champion Dale Earnhardt Sr. in the NASCAR HoF, who was inducted in 2010.

Speaking about his induction to the HoF in 2021, Dale Earnhardt Jr. opened up on his thoughts regarding what his father would think of his honor. Dale Jr. said (via The Charlotte Observer),

“I think he’d be pretty proud. No question he would. I don’t know what words he would use, but he would make you feel important. ... There’s a hint of frustration, though. The further we get away from it, the harder it is for me to really know exactly what he might think or say,"

In his career as a full-timer in the sport, Dale Earnhardt Jr. never won a Cup championship. However, he was a back-to-back Busch Series champion in 1998 and 1999 along with 24 wins. Junior also won 26 races at the Cup level including two Daytona 500s.

Moreover, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s contributions to NASCAR extended far beyond his contributions as a driver. The former HMS driver was responsible for attracting a lot of media attention and increasing the viewership numbers because of his personality, which helped the sport to grow and attract audiences.