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Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Pepsi 400 Win Turns 25 as NASCAR Faces Familiar Grief

7/3/2026

Twenty-five years ago this weekend, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

8 Budweiser Chevrolet from sixth to first in the closing laps of the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway — six months after the same track killed his father in the 2001 Daytona 500.

The victory gave a fractured sport a way to breathe again. Now, grieving after the May death of Kyle Busch, NASCAR is looking back at that race for something it badly needs: evidence that the path forward exists.

A Son Returns to His Father's Track Dale Earnhardt Sr.

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