'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Speaking on the Ask Jr. podcast, former NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently named the two most heartbreaking races of his career.
Over the course of his long and illustrious career, Dale Jr. went to the victory lane 26 times. There were two more occasions when the $300 million worth (as per Celebrity Net Worth) NASCAR Hall of Famer could've gone to the victory lane, but didn't.
The first was at Talladega in 2004 when Jeff Gordon won over him, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s fans made their disapproval of the win clear to Gordon.
"The two that jump out right away are the losing Talladega to Jeff Gordon when Vickers spun in the middle of the corner. I'm in the act of I'm side drafting the #24 and I'm going by him, no question. And the caution comes out and in that moment and they say, 'He's ahead,' when we're in turn 3 and 4. And they threw all the beer cans at Jeff which I loved and he, instead of getting up by the fence so the cans would not hit the car, he pulled farther away so it could get over. Man, they were full cans bouncing off this car. I was so angry that this is back when it was new for races to be decided in that way," Dale Earnhardt Jr. described. [6:20]
The second race that Earnhardt deemed heartbreaking came at the same racetrack. The driver this time was Joey Logano in a similar situation.
"The other one is the loss to Joey Logano. The same thing. Get the restart, I'm going by Joey ... Talladega, 2015. I'm going by Joey, I've got him and there's a wreck behind me and they're like, 'Feel frozen,'" he added.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. on why he wanted to win the second Daytona 500
In an interview earlier this year, Dale Earnhardt Jr. spoke about his two Daytona 500 wins, which came in 2004 and 2014. For Earnhardt Jr., winning the 500 brings the utmost happiness that a NASCAR driver can experience. And that's why he wanted to win in 2014, which he did.
“The happiest that a NASCAR driver will ever be in a single moment, outside of the championship, is the Daytona 500. And I wanted to feel that one more time. The thing that makes us all keep going back to the racetrack and getting your teeth kicked in is the possibility of feeling that joy that you feel when you go to victory lane. You’ll go back 100 races in a row and lose them all for the chance that you might actually be able to celebrate one more time," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said (via The Athletic).
The emotion he felt after his first Daytona 500 win was "relief" instead of elation. But after his second Daytona 500 win, Earnhardt Jr. said he was full of gratitude that he got to experience the winning feeling once again.
