6: Stewart The First To Congratulate
In a NASCAR race, there are so many cars on the track at once that you know someone is feeling left out after a loss. Earnhardt explained to Men’s Health that Stewart was always one of the first drivers to congratulate him “Winning the Daytona 500 in ’04 and ’14. That was just a crazy, crazy feeling. Stewart was the first person to come over and congratulate me. When you win that race and you go to Victory Lane and everybody’s there. Your team, your family, everybody’s calling on the phone. The whole world is watching. Winning the All-Star race as a rookie was incredible.
“We were a rookie team in this All-Star race. I don’t think we, even in our wildest dreams, imagined that we were going to win the event. And the Xfinity Series in ’98 and ’99. That was an incredible feeling of accomplishment for me. I was just starting as a racer. The sky was the limit for me at that moment. My father [who died at Daytona in ’01] was still alive, so enjoying that with him was amazing.”