Which one do you think is better? It's hard to tell because Dale and Richard were both two of the best and both seem to be equal but I think the answer would be Richard Petty. Why Richard? Both Richard and Dale made NASCAR what it is today. But Richard Petty won more Daytona 500's 7 of them, thats 1 for each Winston Cup/Grand National Championship he won.
shareRichard Petty won 200 races. As much as I like him, his huge number of wins had a lot to do with the Dodges he drove, especially the ones with the Hemi engines. Remember, there were a lot fewer guidelines and rules back then. Earnhart, a driver never known for finesse, won mainly because of his driving ability and style... intimidation.
shareWell Petty, definitely, he's the King. But Earnhardt is my alltime favorite driver, and he may have won just as many races had he started out when Richard did.
But Petty raced in seasons where there were usually 40-50 races a year, sometimes 60, in the late 50s, 1960s, and early 70s, and on many, many different tracks, alot of them short tracks. And King Petty had 139 career victories on short tracks, 61 elsewhere.
I find it hard to believe Earnhardt only won the Daytona 500 just once, but remember, he was VERY close on several other occasions, especially in 1990.
David Pearson only won the Daytona 500 once (1976), and he has 29 more victories than Dale did, but 4 less championships. But Pearson only ran a full schedule 4 or 5 years, still got 105 wins!
Darrell Waltrip only won it once (1989), and has 3 titles and 84 wins. Buddy Baker won it once (1980), but had only 19 wins and zero championships.
Petty is still the King, no one really has a shot at his 200 wins except Jeff Gordon. And that's still a pretty long shot.
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