Let’s begin this story about a question with one of our own. What was it like to cover Dale Earnhardt? “Fun, yet challenging,” longtime NASCAR broadcaster Mike Joy said. “Dale was a great guy. He had ...

Dale Earnhardt entered the 1998 season on the biggest down slide of his career. He had gone 59 consecutive races, almost two full seasons, without winning a Winston Cup race. And he was 46 years old.

For two decades, Dale Earnhardt’s quest for a Daytona 500 trophy was the racing equivalent of a Hall of Fame quarterback fumbling on the five-yard line at the Super Bowl, year after year. Since 1979, ...