From what I know of each, I feel fairly confident that Jr is someone who I would enjoy spending time with and being in a conversation with, but yes, I don't know at this point how anyone could argue that Dale Jr. was a better race car driver than Chase Elliott. I don't even think it is particularly close and I own Dale Jr. merch.
www.chaseelliott.com
Also I’m 99% sure he just ran Speedfest down at Watermelon Capital Speedway. I didn’t get to go, but I know he was announced to be there. So there you go.
www.desi9ntodrive.org
July 2001. The whole sport was herling and needed to see it from an Earnhardt. Even non Earnhardt fans.
A great moment for sure.
Yes - like we flatlanders who refer to their grandfather as granddad. My best friend used to have a field day with that one. Also the infamous use of your middle name as your first name in the south. My wife is from Georgia and she does that. I knew her mother for 15 years before I knew her legal name was not what we were calling her. Like many who may not know Dale Earnhardt's name is Ralph.
You have not really said though from what I have seen who you think is more deserving unless I missed it. Who in NASCAR is so exciting today? I find none of them to be very exciting TBH. Your issue seems to be questioning why Chase is so popular and it's because of many factors that include his connection to old fan bases that needed a new driver such as those that were fans of his father, Dale Jr, Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne - All VERY popular drivers that were all retired or retired soon after Chase came along and he was connected to all of them. He had that embedded fan base AND he performed winning lots of races and championships in Xfinity and Cup. I just don't understand what the mystery is and I am wondering if you are suggesting that now that he has had a few down years (as ALL drivers do) that his fan base should move on to someone else.I notice a bunch of people immediately call others a hater if you question anything. This is a distortion and misleading. I don’t hate Chase. I find him to be a good driver who’s relatively unexciting. So questioning why he has a lock on this NON DRIVING most popular award for 7 straight years isn’t unreasonable. This isn’t about Chase vs Jr. (they are a contrast though) this is about how this particular award goes to Chase every year regardless of what he’s doing. Vs say someone like Bell or Blaney or Chastain or Larson or…Not saying I don’t see Chase never winning but it’s questionable that he’s outshining all these other drivers by any metric of popularity appeal every friggin year. That’s not hate. That’s just a common sense question. That’s fine though this is a off season thing to talk about out and beats 23XI law suits and Hailee Deegan
I was a non-Earnhardt fan and I did not need what happened in July of 2001. In fact, it's the closest I came to rage quitting something I love because I felt it was a little too good to be true really. I will maintain forever that I believe JR had larger holes in his restrictor plate than everyone else. I have NEVER seen a car that good at a plate race before or since. He was able to pass cars on his own without help which is just not possible if all things are equal in that package. I believe NASCAR has the same opinion as you and many though that he needed to win that race for the sport to heal but I jut don't agree with that. All drivers will come and go and if the sport can't handle that it's doomed for failure.
Either way we’ll probably never know, but that is the moment that really made him a star. And even under horrible circumstances, the aftermath is the kind of emotion that has been missing in NASCAR from drivers since.
He gained a LOT of fans that night. Especially some undecided senior fans some say he just inherited.