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Stat Sheet: Every Lap Dale Earnhardt Led in the Daytona 500

“20 years of trying, 20 years of frustration, Dale Earnhardt will come to the caution flag to WIN the Daytona 500!”

Those were the words immortalized by then-CBS broadcaster Mike Joy on Feb. 15, 1998, when the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion raced back to the start/finish line and took the yellow and white flags together to clinch his first and only victory in the Daytona 500.

In a storied career where Earnhardt won just about everything imaginable, the Daytona 500 was the one race that agonizingly alluded him until that 20th try.

The win, the finish, Joy’s call and all the crew members from all the race teams lining up on pit road to congratulate him post-race ultimately combined to create one of NASCAR’s most storied, iconic — and arguably greatest — moments.

But only watching the above video does not do justice to why Earnhardt’s win was such a historic moment. Instead, it was the two-decade journey of twists and turns that gave the moment its true meaning.

It was a moment amplified by Earnhardt’s storied legacy and his prowess at Daytona International Speedway, where he scored a still-standing record of 34 victories at the track. This included six International Race of Champions (IROC) wins, seven NASCAR Xfinity Series wins, six Busch Clash wins, 12 Daytona 500 Qualifying Duel wins (including an unprecedented 10 straight from 1990-1999) and three wins in points-paying Cup Series competition: two 400-milers in 1990 and 1993 and the granddaddy of them all in 1998.

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It’s only fitting that arguably the greatest NASCAR driver of all time was one of the best to ever do it at NASCAR’s most prestigious racetrack. And it was Earnhardt’s status as the face of NASCAR, all of his wins at Daytona, his four runner-up Daytona 500 finishes (’84, ’93, ’95, ’96), his two last-lap Daytona 500 heartbreakers (’90, ’93) and his more than 600 laps led in the Great American Race before leading lap 200 that has made “20 years of trying, 20 years of frustration” resonate within the NASCAR community more than a quarter-century later.

Indeed, lap 200 of the 1998 Daytona 500 was Earnhardt’s 669th lap led in the Great American Race. He led enough laps in the Daytona 500 throughout his career to lead it wire-to-wire three times over, and if you were to randomly choose one of the 4,000 laps in the Daytona 500s between 1979 (his debut) and 1998, there was more than a 1-in-6 chance that the lap was led by none other than the Intimidator.

In more absurdity, Earnhardt led all but three of the laps between lap 1 and lap 199 in the Daytona 500 at least once before he finally led lap 200. That included three occasions where he led lap 199 and five occasions where he led lap 190.

In fact, which laps did he lead, and when?

Below is a breakdown of Earnhardt’s “20 years of trying and 20 years of frustration,” combined with the laps he led and the finishes he achieved in the quest for a Harley J. Earl Trophy.

Dale Earnhardt Laps Led Daytona 500

The results speak for themselves. Earnhardt failed to lead a lap in only two of his first 20 Daytona 500s, and he scored a top-10 finish in all but five — all of which ended with a crash or a mechanical failure.

Earnhardt enjoyed solid success in his first decade of Daytona 500 competition, but it was the introduction of the restrictor plate in 1988 that saw him become the dominant force at Daytona that everyone knew him to be.

He especially came out with a vengeance in 1990, as he led more than 75% of the race and led more laps than his first 11 starts combined. He dominated the closing stages, leading all but four of the final 50 laps. Unfortunately, one of the four he didn’t lead was lap 200.

Everyone knows the story. Earnhardt had a 30-second lead with under 10 laps to go until a caution came out of lap 192. The No. 3 car then powered its way back to the lead with five to go on the restart, and Earnhardt looked to have the race in the bag until a piece of debris cut a tire with only two turns to go.

Another near miss followed after leading with six to go in 1991, but 1993 provided the perfect redemption for Earnhardt from that pesky flat three years prior. He led more than half the race and was in complete control in the closing laps, but the final lap turned into the famous “Dale and Dale show” that saw Dale Jarrett outduel Earnhardt on the final lap to score his first Daytona 500.

Next was 1995, where Earnhardt scored his third runner-up finish after getting passed by Sterling Marlin with 20 to go, and 1996, where he scored his fourth runner-up finish after another late-race battle with Jarrett.

Earnhardt was in the mix again in 1997 until a late crash saw him flip over and miraculously finish the race, albeit in 31st. After 19 failed attempts and several agonizing defeats in a row, Earnhardt left no doubt in 1998, as he led the final 61 laps en route to the win.

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When analyzing all the laps Earnhardt led in his first 20 Daytona 500 tries, 235 (more than one-third) came in the first quarter of the race. The second and third quarters marked the part of the Daytona 500 where he led the least, with just 253 of his laps led coming between laps 51 and 150.

Finally, in the fourth quarter of the race, Earnhardt led a total of 181 laps. This included three times where he took the white flag as the leader, only to take the checkered flag once.

QuarterLaps Led
1-50235
51-100122
101-150131
151-200181
Total669

The above quadrants sound right when considering that laps 96, 97 and 98 were the only laps of the Daytona 500 that Earnhardt never led at any point in his first 20 tries. Meanwhile, there were some laps that he led as many as five, six or seven times — most of those laps were either in the first and fourth quarter of the race, while the laps he led the least tended to be between laps 51 and 150.

# of Times Earnhardt LedLap
711, 29, 30, 141
67, 12-14, 16, 17, 24, 25, 28, 31, 140
58-10, 15, 18, 21, 23, 27, 32, 35, 42-44, 46-49, 53, 142, 167, 169-171, 175, 176, 189, 190
42, 5, 6, 19, 20, 22, 26, 33, 34, 36, 41, 45, 52, 54-57, 60, 61, 115, 136, 144, 146, 150, 151, 159, 160, 163-165, 168, 172-174, 179, 181, 183-188, 191-193
33, 4, 37-39, 50, 51, 58, 59, 62-69, 80, 84, 90, 101, 104, 109, 113, 114, 116, 125, 126, 131-134, 137, 138, 143, 145, 147-149, 152-154, 158, 161, 162, 166, 177, 178, 180, 182, 194, 196-199
240, 70-77, 81-83, 85-89, 91-95, 100, 102, 103, 108, 110, 117, 123, 124, 127-130, 135, 139, 155-157, 195
11, 78, 79, 99, 105-107, 111, 112, 118-122, 200
096-98
The last quarter of the Daytona 500 wasn’t the part that Earnhardt led the most, but he sure was no stranger to running in the top spot when the win was on the line. And with all the success he had, it’s quite the whiplash to see all of that red in the upper and middle sections of the above chart, only for lap 200 to be at the very bottom.

But all the laps Earnhardt led, all the top-five and runner-up finishes he scored and all the honors he had achieved — at Daytona and beyond — are what make the “1” next to lap 200 all the more special.

Twenty years of trying, 20 years of frustration, and Earnhardt was a Daytona 500 champion at last.

Stephen Stumpf is the NASCAR Content Director for Frontstretch and is a three-year veteran of the site. His weekly columns include “Stat Sheet” and “4 Burning Questions.” He also writes commentary, contributes to podcasts, edits articles and is frequently at the track for on-site coverage.

Can find on Twitter @stephen_stumpf.

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