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Earnhardt Gets Title No. 7
In 1994, Dale Earnhardt and Richard Childress Racing of Welcome, North Carolina, emerged triumphant and collected the coveted NASCAR Cup Series championship after logging four wins, 25 top-10 finishes and two pole positions in 31 starts.
The season began with Earnhardt singing the same Day- tona 500 song he had been singing since first coming to the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway in 1979. Once again, he finished the 500 without a win. He ended up seventh behind winner Sterling Marlin.
Still, the Kannapolis, North Carolina, native was determined to make it a great season, and why not? He was NASCAR’s defending Cup Series champion with the same team owner in Richard Childress, the same team in RCR and the same pit crew led by crew chief Andy Petree.
Earnhardt scored his first victory of the season in the fifth race at Darlington Raceway and followed that with a win the next week at Bristol Motor Speedway. His season felt like a carbon copy of 1993 and had that championship feel. He took the point with the win at Bristol and the season looked promising.
Earnhardt was second in points for eight weeks through the 400-mile race at Daytona but returned to the lead and stayed there the remainder of the year.
At Michigan International Speedway in August, Earnhardt was involved in a two- car crash with Todd Bodine. Ironically, it was the first time since July 1986 at Daytona that he hadn’t finished a Cup Series race due to a crash on the track.
A final victory at Rockingham Speedway in October iced Earnhardt’s seventh- career championship. Mark Martin, driver of the Roush Racing Ford, finished second in points to Earnhardt for the second time.
PRESIDENT: BILL CLINTON
NO. 1 AT THE BOX OFFICE: THE LION KING
NO. 1 SONG: “THE SIGN” BY ACE OF BASE
GALLON OF GAS: $1.11
POP CULTURE: THE POLICE CHASE OF A WHITE FORD BRONCO CARRYING O.J. SIMPSON CAPTIVATED A NATIONWIDE TELEVISION AUDIENCE.
RUSTY WALLACE, DRIVER OF THE NO. 2 Ford for Team Penske, won eight Cup Series races, logging 17 top-five finishes and 20 top-10 results in 31 starts.
However, the Fenton, Missouri, native suffered three engine failures and major crashes at Daytona and Talladega further hampered his title hopes, but miraculously resulted in relatively minor injuries. The only championship of Wallace’s 26-year Cup Series career came in 1989 with team owner Raymond Beadle.
ON AUG. 6, JEFF GORDON, DRIVING the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, won the inaugural Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after starting third in the 43-car field. The native of Vallejo, California, and longtime Indiana resident led 93 of the race’s 160 laps en route to the second NASCAR Cup Series victory of his career. Gordon went on to win five times at the famed Brickyard, his last victory there coming in 2014.
DALE EARNHARDT’S 1994 NO. 3 RICHARD Childress Racing Chevrolet with four wins, 20 top-five finishes, 25 top-10 results and two pole positions. Driving the No. 6 Roush Racing Ford, Mark Martin had two wins, 15 top-five results, 20 top-10 showings and one pole position.
DATE | LOCATION | WINNER
Feb 18 | Daytona International Speedway | Derrike Cope
Feb 25 | Richmond International Raceway | Mark Martin
March 4 | North Carolina Speedway | Kyle Petty
March 18 | Atlanta Motor Speedway | Dale Earnhardt
April 1 | Darlington Raceway | Dale Earnhardt
April 8 | Bristol Motor Speedway | Davey Allison
April 22 | North Wilkesboro Speedway | Brett Bodine
April 29 | Martinsville Speedway | Geoffrey Bodine
May 6 | Talladega Superspeedway | Dale Earnhardt
May 27 | Charlotte Motor Speedway | Rusty Wallace
June 3 | Dover International Speedway | Derrike Cope
June 10 | Sonoma Raceway | Rusty Wallace
June 17 | Pocono Raceway | Harry Gant
June 24 | Michigan International Speedway | Dale Earnhardt
July 7 | Daytona International Speedway | Dale Earnhardt
July 22 | Pocono Raceway | Geoffrey Bodine
July 29 | Talladega Superspeedway | Dale Earnhardt
Aug. 12 | Watkins Glen International | Ricky Rudd
Aug. 19 | Michigan International Speedway | Mark Martin
Aug. 25 | Bristol Motor Speedway | Ernie Irvan
Sept. 2 | Darlington Raceway | Dale Earnhardt
Sept. 9 | Richmond International Raceway | Dale Earnhardt
Sept. 16 | Dover International Speedway | Bill Elliott
Sept. 23 | Martinsville Speedway | Geoffrey Bodine
Sept. 30 | North Wilkesboro Speedway | Mark Martin
Oct. 7 | Charlotte Motor Speedway | Davey Allison
Oct. 21 | North Carolina Speedway | Alan Kulwicki
Nov. 4 | Phoenix International Raceway | Dale Earnhardt
Nov. 18 | Atlanta Motor Speedway | Morgan Shepherd
