It is impossible to understate the impact Dale Earnhardt had on NASCAR, and the void left when he died on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
At the time, he was holding back several cars while the two he owned -- the No. 15 of Michael Waltrip and the No. 8 of his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., drove off to a Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) 1-2 finish. But mere seconds from finishing third right behind them, Earnhardt made contact with Sterling Marlin, spun up the track, collided with Kenny Schrader and hit the outside wall in a head-on impact.
