Editing Dale Earnhardt (section)

====1990–1995====
The 1990 season started for Earnhardt with victories in the [[Budweiser Shootout|Busch Clash]] and his heat of the [[Gatorade Duel|Gatorade Twin 125's]]. Near the end of the [[Daytona 500]], he had a dominant forty-second lead when the final caution flag came out with a handful of laps to go. When the green flag waved, Earnhardt was leading [[Derrike Cope]]. On the final lap, Earnhardt ran over a piece of metal, which was later revealed as a [[bell housing]], in turn 3, cutting down a tire. Cope, in an upset, won the race while Earnhardt finished fifth after leading 155 of the 200 laps. The No. 3 Goodwrench-sponsored Chevy team took the flat tire that cost them the win and hung it on the shop wall as a reminder of how close they had come to winning the Daytona 500.<ref>{{cite web|last=Caraviello|first=David|url=http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2014/3/6/top-10-bad-luck-moments-las-vegas.html|title=TOP 10 BAD LUCK MOMENTS IN NASCAR|publisher=[[NASCAR]]|date=March 6, 2014|access-date=March 6, 2014|archive-date=March 7, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140307083014/http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2014/3/6/top-10-bad-luck-moments-las-vegas.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Earnhardt won nine races that season and won his fourth Winston Cup title, beating [[Mark Martin]] by 26 points. He also became the first multiple winner of the annual all-star race, [[1990 The Winston|The Winston]]. The 1991 season saw Earnhardt win his fifth Winston Cup championship. This season, he scored four wins and won the championship by 195 points over [[Ricky Rudd]]. One of his wins came at [[North Wilkesboro Speedway|North Wilkesboro]], in a race where [[Harry Gant]] had a chance to set a single-season record by winning his fifth consecutive race, breaking a record held by Earnhardt. Late in the race, Gant lost his brakes, which gave Earnhardt the chance he needed to make the pass for the win and maintain his record.

Earnhardt's only win of the 1992 season came at Charlotte, in the [[Coca-Cola 600]], ending a 13-race win streak by Ford teams. Earnhardt finished a career-low 12th in the points for the second time in his career, with three last place finishes (Daytona and Talladega in July and Martinsville in September),<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.racing-reference.info/driver-season-stats/earnhda01/1992/W/| title = Driver Season Stats - Racing-Reference}}</ref> and the only time he had finished that low since joining Richard Childress Racing. He still made the trip to the annual Awards Banquet with Rusty Wallace but did not have the best seat in the house. Wallace stated he and Earnhardt had to sit on the backs of their chairs to see, and Earnhardt said, "This sucks, I should have gone hunting."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/racing/nascar/cup/columns/story?columnist=mcgee_ryan&id=3736700 |title=Ryan McGee: Best and worst of NASCAR Sprint Cup banquet nights past&nbsp;— ESPN |publisher=[[ESPN]] |date=January 12, 2009 |access-date=December 17, 2010 |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629004108/http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/columns/story?columnist=mcgee_ryan&id=3736700 |url-status=live }}</ref> At the end of the year, longtime crew chief [[Kirk Shelmerdine]] left to become a driver. [[Andy Petree]] took over as crew chief. Hiring Petree turned out to be beneficial, as Earnhardt returned to the front in 1993. He once again came close to a win at the Daytona 500 and dominated [[Speedweeks]] before finishing second to [[Dale Jarrett]] on a last-lap pass. Earnhardt scored six wins en route to his sixth Winston Cup title, including wins in the first prime-time Coca-Cola 600 and [[1993 The Winston|The Winston]], both at Charlotte, and the [[Coke Zero 400|Pepsi 400]] at Daytona. He beat Rusty Wallace for the championship by 80 points. On November 14, 1993, after the season-ending Hooters 500 at Atlanta, the race winner Wallace and 1993 series champion Earnhardt ran a dual [[Polish Victory Lap]] together while carrying #28 and #7 flags commemorating [[1992 Daytona 500]] winner [[Davey Allison]] and [[1992 NASCAR Winston Cup Series]] champion [[Alan Kulwicki]] respectively, who both had died in separate plane accidents during the season.

[[File:Dale Sr 1994.jpg|thumb|Earnhardt's [[1994 NASCAR Winston Cup Series|1994]] racecar]]
In 1994, Earnhardt achieved a feat that he himself had believed to be impossible—he scored his seventh Winston Cup championship, tying [[Richard Petty]]. He was very consistent, scoring four wins, and after [[Ernie Irvan]] was sidelined due to a near-deadly crash at Michigan (the two were neck-and-neck at the top of the points up until the crash), won the title by over 400 points over Mark Martin. Earnhardt sealed the deal at Rockingham by winning the race over [[Rick Mast]]. It was his final NASCAR championship and his final season for the [[GM Certified Service|GM Goodwrench]] [[Chevrolet Lumina]]. Earnhardt started off the 1995 season by finishing second in the Daytona 500 to [[Sterling Marlin]]. He won five races in 1995, including his first [[road course]] victory at [[Infineon Raceway|Sears Point]]. He also won the [[Allstate 400 at The Brickyard|Brickyard 400]] at [[Indianapolis Motor Speedway]], a win he called the biggest of his career. But in the end, Earnhardt lost the championship to [[Jeff Gordon]] by 34 points. The [[GM Certified Service|GM Goodwrench]] racing team changed to [[Chevrolet Monte Carlo]]s.

Earnhardt almost was ready to leave the #3 at the end of the 1995 season, according to his former crew chief [[Larry McReynolds]]. At the time, McReynolds was the crew chief for the #28 [[Havoline]] [[Ford Thunderbird]] at [[Yates Racing|Robert Yates Racing]].<ref>''The Scene Vault Podcast'' episode 140, July 2020</ref> Earnhardt had actually been approached by Yates to drive the #28 for the 1995 season in place of [[Ernie Irvan]], who was injured in a crash during the 1994 season. Instead, Robert Yates signed [[Dale Jarrett]] to a one-year deal to drive the #28. During the 1995 season, Yates was being pressed by his manufacturer to start a second team and sent a contract to Earnhardt to drive it.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nascarhall.com/blog/different-dale-and-dale-show | title=A Different Dale & Dale Show &#124; NASCAR Hall of Fame &#124; Curators' Corner }}</ref> Earnhardt never returned the contract, and according to McReynolds the reason he did not sign was because he only wanted to drive the #28 for Yates; the team fully intended to put Irvan back behind the wheel of his old car once he was able to resume driving. Instead, Earnhardt stayed with RCR and the #3, while Jarrett was signed to drive Yates' new car, numbered 88.