Editing Dale Earnhardt (section)

===Rod Osterlund Racing (1979–1980)===
When he joined car owner [[Rod Osterlund|Rod Osterlund Racing]] in a season that included a rookie class of future stars including Earnhardt, [[Harry Gant]], and [[Terry Labonte]] in his rookie season, Earnhardt won one race at [[Bristol Motor Speedway|Bristol]], captured four poles, scored eleven Top 5s and seventeen Top 10s, and finished seventh in the points standings despite missing four races due to a broken collarbone, winning [[NASCAR Rookie of the Year|Rookie of the Year]] honors.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2014/1/20/top-10-nascar-rookies-tony-stewart-jimmie-johnson-dale-earnhardt.html|title=TOP 10 ROOKIE CAMPAIGNS AT NASCAR'S HIGHEST LEVEL|last=Caraviello|first=David|date=January 20, 2014|publisher=[[NASCAR]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122082015/http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2014/1/20/top-10-nascar-rookies-tony-stewart-jimmie-johnson-dale-earnhardt.html|archive-date=2014-01-22|access-date=January 20, 2014}}</ref>

During his sophomore season, Earnhardt, now with 20-year-old [[Doug Richert]] as his crew chief, began the season winning the [[Budweiser Shootout|Busch Clash]]. With wins at [[Atlanta Motor Speedway|Atlanta]], Bristol, [[Music City Motorplex|Nashville]], [[Martinsville Speedway|Martinsville]], and Charlotte, Earnhardt won his first [[Winston Cup]] points championship. He is the only driver in NASCAR Cup history to follow a Rookie of the Year title with a NASCAR Winston Cup Championship the next season. He was also the third driver in NASCAR history to win both the Rookie of the Year and Winston Cup Series championship, following [[David Pearson (NASCAR driver)|David Pearson]] (1960, 1966) and Richard Petty (1959, 1964). Ten drivers have since joined this exclusive club: [[Rusty Wallace]] (1984, 1989), [[Alan Kulwicki]] (1986, 1992), [[Jeff Gordon]] (1993, 1995), [[Tony Stewart]] (1999, 2002), [[Matt Kenseth]] (2000, 2003), [[Kevin Harvick]] (2001, 2014), [[Kyle Busch]] (2005, 2015), [[Joey Logano]] (2009, 2018, 2022, 2024), [[Chase Elliott]] (2016, 2020), and [[Kyle Larson]] (2014, 2021).