Dale Earnhardt Survives

On the last lap of the 43rd Annual Daytona 500 on February 18, 2001, Michael Waltrip was in the lead with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in second. In third was Dale Jr.'s father, Dale Earnhardt. On the fourth turn, Earnhardt and Ken Schrader crashed, though, as if fate came in just in time, Earnhardt miraculously survived. This is the POD for this timeline.

2002
2002 saw Earnhardt win his second Daytona 500 and the July Pocono race, the final two wins of his career, though the latter race was marked by tragedy. On the very first lap, DEI driver Steve Park lost his life in a wreck which started when Rusty Wallace slightly tapped his car. The wreck had him slide into the wall head-on at full speed and violently flipped over teammate Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Earnhardt went over to Park's car to try and assist, but the second he got there, he ran towards the medics. In Victory Lane afterwards, pit reporter Dave Burns announced that Park had succumbed to his injuries, while Dale Earnhardt said in tears, "This wasn't the way it was supposed to happen, Steve should be here, I warned NASCAR about the head-on hits, and they didn't listen. First Adam, then Kenny, then Blaise, and now this. They have blood on their hands". After this event, NASCAR launched a full investigation, and required the HANS device for the following race. For the rest of the season, Park's #1 was driven by Kenny Wallace.

2003
2003 was Earnhardt's final season before his retirement. This season saw Earnhardt go winless for only the third year in his career (the only other years in which Earnhardt went winless were 1981 and 1997), but he came close to winning a few races. For the Winston, he drove a special paint scheme, which was patterned after the car he ran in his 1979 rookie year and his 1980 championship. In Homestead, Earnhardt drove another special car, a chrome version of his iconic black paint scheme. He started 25th, but led the pace laps as the pace car. His final race had him leading for 30 laps, but finished 29th, five laps down, after a wreck with 15 laps to go. Dale was racing for 5th place, when Kurt Busch bumped into his right rear corner, and sent him spinning. At the last moment, his car went airborne, and flipped over several times, with damage. His crew was able to get his car back onto the track for the final lap, but he finished 25th, 5 laps down. After this finish, The grandstand went wild, when the damaged car took its final lap around Homestead, much like Richard Petty's final race. In his post race interview with NBC's Marty Snider, Dale said, visibly choked up with tears, "All these years, driving for the same sponsor and team. I wanna thank Richard (Childress) for the opportunity he gave me, as well as Humpy Wheeler, and everyone else at RCR and Chevrolet. I wanna thank Goodwrench for sticking with me even through the bad years, and want to say to Jeff Gordon, you are the face of the sport now, and don't let me down, boy". Earnhardt finished the year 10th in points and was honored at the Banquet in New York for his illustrious NASCAR career, and won Driver of the Year, unseating Bill Elliott. After the season, Earnhardt took full control of Dale Earnhardt, Inc., and is actively involved in its management.

2004
With Earnhardt’s retirement, Jeff Burton, who had driven the #99 Ford for Roush Racing since 1996, was selected to replace him in the #3 for 2004.

2007
With the debut of the Car of Tomorrow, Earnhardt was livid. He was quoted as saying, "I don't know how or why anyone at NASCAR would approve this abomination". That same year,

2008
2008 saw Dale Earnhardt, Jr. inherit a 25% stake in the team. That same year, Dale Earnhardt made the decision to divorce his wife Teresa Earnhardt. In an interview, Earnhardt said about her, "Teresa has no consideration about me or my legacy", while Teresa countered with, "I've always cared about him. If anything, he was the one who used me". This war of words continued to 2010.

2013
2013 started out with Earnhardt making his opinion known about a new car, dubbed the Generation-6 car. He has been quoted as saying, "I am not sure I like this car, it looks boxy and I bet the quality of plate tracks is gonna suck". He was also vocal about newcomer Danica Patrick, saying, "She has no business behind the wheel of a race car. I got nothing against women in the sport, well ones that earn their seat that is".