The Closest Thing We've Had Since Dale Earnhardt

The Closest Thing We've Had Since Dale Earnhardt 

By Brian H Cotnoir

Since his tragic death on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 there has been a void, of sorts, in NASCAR.   Dale Earnhardt Sr., a legendary driver in his own right, took on an almost mythical status following his death, and continues to grow with each passing year.   Many drivers have come and gone since then, but no one will ever replace the Intimidator, but there is one driver I've seen on track that reminds me quite a bit of Dale, and it's a man with an equally as awesome nickname: "The Outlaw", Kurt Busch.

As of the posting, but of this article Kurt Busch is last driver to have driven in the Cup Series with Dale Earnhardt, and just like Earnhardt he's the son of a race car driver, a Cup Series Champion, and had a reputation on the track that was unmatched by anyone else.  There are other reasons I think why Kurt Busch is the closest thing we've had to Earnhardt, but before I go further, I want to talk about why other drivers who get compared that don't measure up to Dale's prestige.

It aint just the sunglasses

Dale Earnhardt Jr. despite being the son of the Intimidator (and sharing a name) he never quite eclipsed his father's shadow.  His father was known as the Intimidator, while Dale was known as "Little E", "June Bug", and just plain old "Junior".  Dale Jr. won 26 races in the Cup Series before making a successful transition to the broadcast booth.  I'd say Dale Jr.'s career more closely resembles that of Neil Bonnet.

Jimmie Johnson despite tying Earnhardt and Petty for most drivers' championships was more of a "Jeff Gordon 2.0".  Speaking of Jeff Gordon, he was a legend in his own right, as is Tony Stewart.  I feel Kevin Harvick, Dale's replacement at Richard Childress Racing, has had a career more closely to that of Hall of Famer Bobby Allison, and Kurt's younger brother, Kyle, despite winning more races and have one more championship than Kurt, has a personality that reminds me more of Hall of Famers Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip.

Now let's look at Kurt Busch's stats compared to Dale Earnhardt:

• Both are Daytona 500 Winners
• Both have won a NASCAR Championship (Kurt has 1; Dale has 7)
• Both have been consistent and reliable
• Both had competitive on track rivalry with a multitude of different drivers.
• Both were known to have made famous comments on and off the track and have been portrayed as villains by the media at some point in their careers.
• Both's most Iconic Rides were in Black Cars.

Here come the Men in Black

Those are just a few things I can think off the top of my head, but they do have some distinct differences.  In addition to having won less championships than Earnhardt, Busch also has 40 less wins in the Cup Series.  However, for the duration of Dale's career he had to run the same points system, while Busch has had to compete under 5-6 different variations of the points system.  Busch has also driven for way more teams in his career than Earnhardt, who spent the majority of his career racing for Richard Childress.

He is a Champion

I can recall as a child, my father telling me and my sister we could root for any driver, except Dale Earnhardt.  Why?   Because Earnhardt was considered a "dirty driver" and wore the hat of the Villain.  It wasn't until 1997 that my father actually began to respect Earnhardt because of how he got back into his race car and finished the Daytona 500 with a wrecked car.  I can recall having similar feelings about Kurt Busch as a teenager.    He was brash, he was arrogant, and he got into altercations with other drivers on and off track.  I couldn't stand Kurt Busch so much that when I was at the Inaugural Chase Race at New Hampshire in 2004, I remember telling my father I wanted to leave 20 laps early because I I didn't want to stick around to see Kurt Busch win (he had absolutely dominated that race).  I also see a lot parallel's to Busch's rivalry's with drivers like Tony Stewart, Jimmy Spencer, and Kyle Busch and Earnhardt's rivalry's with Geoff Bodine, Rusty Wallace, and Jeff Gordon.

These quotes are legendary

Now just to be clear: I am not proclaiming Kurt Busch to be the next Dale Earnhardt, but I am saying that he is most likely the closest thing we've had to him since his passing.  I think it's something to be admired and makes me appreciate Kurt Busch a little bit more.