NASCAR veteran Steve Park once delivered one of the most emotional victory tributes in NASCAR history at Rockingham, just eight days after the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. Driving the No. 1 car for Dale Earnhardt Inc., Park took the checkered flag at the 2001 Dura Lube 400 and promptly paid tribute to his late team owner and friend.
The win was more than just a personal triumph. It was Earnhardt’s team’s first Cup Series victory following their founder’s tragic death on the Daytona race track. What happened after the race further struck a chord with peers and fans.
Steve Park Turned Victory Lap Into a Fitting Tribute
After clinching the victory at Rockingham, as Park took his cool-down lap, he rolled down his window, reached out, and waved a Dale Earnhardt Sr hat to the crowd, an unspoken gesture that said everything he and his peers were feeling.
Back then, the Rockingham grandstands were filled with fans still processing the shock of Daytona. However, Park’s win and emotional tribute received cheers but also tears from fans. Park wasn’t just a title to his name, it was for Earnhardt, for the team, and for every fan still in mourning.
3️⃣🏁 Steve Park scores an emotional victory at Rockingham eight days after the death of Dale Earnhardt. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/bAsobwgifC
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 17, 2025
In an interview with the Charlotte Observer, Mike Joy, the play-by-play FOX broadcasting legend, who was the voice of that 2001 season and still is today, said “The fact that one of Dale’s cars won that race, with Steve Park driving, I think gave everybody a chance to breathe and say, ‘OK, this is not going to be easy. It’s not going to be like it was, but we’re certainly in a better place than we were several days ago, and we’re going to move on. We’re going to move this sport forward because it’s what we all have to do.’”
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Joy added, “When you lose arguably the most popular driver and certainly the most successful active driver in a horrible crash on the last lap of the biggest race of the year, the sport’s gonna change forever.”
In an emotional post race interview, Park said, “You know Dale’s the one that taught me how to drive in this place. He taught me to stay off the brakes and I stayed off the brakes all day long and I won this race. God bless the whole family. Thank God for this.”
In February 2001, Park won the Sprint Cup Series race at Rockingham, N.C., just a week after his car owner, Dale Earnhardt Sr, died during a last lap crash in the Daytona 500.