Dale Earnhardt Jr. was docked 25 points twice by NASCAR in 2004. Credit: Autostock

In Review: Earnhardt Jr.

NASCAR's most popular driver experienced a bit of everything in '04

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. experienced the gamut of emotions during a complex 2004 campaign that ultimately proved to be his greatest to date in the Nextel Cup Series.

Where does one even begin to outline it?

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With the most infamous four-letter word in the sport's history? With one of the most visually horrific in-car fires in recent memory and the resulting second-degree burns that removed him from the car for the first time in his career? With the purposeful self-spinout?

Or do you go with the rousing Daytona 500 victory? The Busch/Cup sweep at Bristol? Or maybe his second straight most-popular driver award?

Impossible call. And how does one guy pack that much drama into 40 weeks, anyway?

For all the drama, the most impressive part of Earnhardt's season came in the form of something he's not had in four previous Cup Series seasons - consistency.

For the first time in his five-year Cup career, Earnhardt was a threat to win nearly every weekend. Just twice, at Las Vegas -- when Earnhardt may have had the worst car of his career -- and at Pocono in August, was the No. 8 Budweiser team simply incapable of competing from the get-go.

The No. 8 team will have a slightly different look in 2005. Credit: Autostock

The Budweiser team led 19 races during the 36-week season, and also won a Gatorade Twin-125 qualifying race at Daytona during Speedweeks 2004. Aside from the Daytona 500 victory, Junior's first, he went to Victory Lane in the spring races at Atlanta and Richmond, and the fall shows at Bristol, Talladega and Phoenix.

Junior swept both the Busch and Nextel Cup Series races twice during 2004, first at Daytona in February and then again at Bristol in August.

A career-high six victories runs Earnhardt's streak of multi-win seasons to five and he has been a staple of the NASCAR Top 10 for 69 consecutive weeks despite being docked 25 points on two separate occasions.

The first came at Bristol in March, when he purposely spun himself out to bring out the caution flag (then freely admitted it to the media following the race). The second, of course, came after Junior's victory in the EA Sports 500 at Talladega.

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When asked what it meant to have won at the 2.66-mile track for the fifth time, Junior said, "It don't mean s--- right now. Daddy won here 10 times."

The verbal slip obviously did nothing to jeopardize Earnhardt's popularity. He still ran away with the most popular driver voting. True to form, he donated the $10,000 prize to two North Carolina animal organizations, The Animal Adoption League and Lake Norman Lucky Cats.

Due to injuries suffered in a sports car crash at Infineon Raceway in June, Junior was forced to use a relief driver for the first time in his Cup career.

Martin Truex Jr. became the second driver to ever compete in the No. 8 Bud car when he relieved Junior at New Hampshire International Speedway in July, and John Andretti became the third Bud Chevy driver for DEI the following week at Pocono.

Earnhardt's recovery was rapid, however, and he was back in the saddle fulltime for the Brickyard 400 at Indy. And in good form, too. In the 16 races from Indy to Homestead, Earnhardt tallied seven top-five finishes, including victories at Bristol, Talladega and Phoenix.

Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon battle at Talladega. Credit: Autostock

All said, he had a legitimate shot at winning the inaugural Nextel Cup.

An ill-timed move in the late stages of the Bass Pro Shops/MBNA 500 at Atlanta -- while running third, he moved up in front of Carl Edwards and crashed, resulting in a crushing 33rd-place finish and a broken rear end gear at Martinsville that also relegated him to a 33rd-place finish, ultimately decided his fate in the Chase.

"Frustrating day, but the year was great," Earnhardt said following a 23rd-place finish in the season finale at Homestead. "Our expectations coming into this race were just to have fun, because we pretty much knew (winning the championship) was a long shot.

"The 97 (Busch), 24 (Gordon) and 48 (Johnson), those three teams are nearly bulletproof, especially at a track like this. But I'm not worried about it. I'm proud of my team. We had good days, and we had bad days, but we battled and put together our best season ever."