It’s January of 1979, and 28-year-old Dale Earnhardt is ready to embark on the greatest challenge he’s faced in his young career to date: a full season in the NASCAR Cup Series. As the teams and haulers head west to California to kick things off, we zero in on the blue-and-yellow Osterlund Racing No. 2, which Dale will chauffeur for the first time on a road course. After a promising afternoon, his overzealousness gets the best of him, and the Rookie of the Year spotlight is shifted to another promising newcomer.

Once the Los Angeles skyline is behind them, the teams and drivers travel back east, this time on a collision course with history. Thanks to the recent split in the American championship car ranks, the motorsports world was ripe for a new leader. NASCAR had just the bill of excitement to make its case to be a household name in entertainment: Daytona Speedweeks. But little did anyone know what the 1979 rendition of the Great American Race had in store for the world, and how a network television deal, a fight, and the return of NASCAR’s King would win over a new generation of stock car fans.

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