Rex White vs Dale Earnhardt: 64 Greatest NASCAR Drivers Round 2

by Charlie Turner

Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. The best NASCAR and IndyCar news and opinion, exclusive pictures and video. I'm Charlie Turner. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

April 8, 2009 3:25 pm UTC 19 Comments

One of the pre-tournament favorites must get by a driver with a better winning percentage and one of the greatest Cup season’s ever to his credit. We’ll see how this second round Bench Racing region game comes out in the NASCAR 64 Greatest Drivers Tournament at Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie.

Rex White won 28 NASCAR Cup series races and grabbed 36 poles in just 233 starts. In his 1960 championship season he finished over 3900 points ahead of runner-up Richard Petty. Rex was a top ten championship finisher in six of his nine seasons. Only had one superspeedway win. White is one of only six owner-drivers to win a championship.

Dale Earnhardt won 76 times in 676 Cup Series starts and was one of only two seven time series champions. His win total is seventh best all-time. He won consecutive titles three different times and was a series runner-up three times. Earnhardt only won the Daytona 500 once – in ’98 – but is the all-time leader in wins at Daytona International Speedway with 34.

For awhile, it looked like Bobby Isaac might upset Earnhardt in the opening round, but it didn’t happen. Rex White bumped off Jeff Burton in his opening match. Getting by Ironhead will be a tall order for Rex. Leave you comments please.

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt, Daytona 500, Daytona International Speedway, NASCAR, NASCAR 64 Greatest Driver Tourney, Nascar Legends, The King, The Pettys

Tagged with: Bobby Isaac, NASCAR 64 Greatest Driver Tourney, NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers, Rex White, Richard Petty

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Comments

19 Responses to “Rex White vs Dale Earnhardt: 64 Greatest NASCAR Drivers Round 2”

Marc on April 8th, 2009 4:09 pm

Geesh, this is supposed to be getting harder as the field gets narrowed down.

Hard to tell by this match-up.

Dale Earnhardt
Buddy Clay on April 8th, 2009 4:20 pm

He could go all the way…………Dale Earnhardt
Art Almond on April 8th, 2009 5:32 pm

Awlright Charlie…

Yew treadin’ on sacred ground… tha “MAN” caint be compared to anyone!

TOAD
Matt Mercer on April 8th, 2009 6:23 pm

Dale.
4ever3 on April 8th, 2009 8:38 pm

Dale.
Steve Wronkowicz on April 8th, 2009 8:57 pm

3900 points ahead in a championship season! A better winning percentage than Earnhardt and you all are treating this as a Casey Atwood v, Jeff Gordon match up.

Rex was no slouch and deserves some love.

But not that much love….I’ll take Dale.
Charlie Turner on April 8th, 2009 10:52 pm

No upset threat this time. And no shame in being taken out by Earnhardt either. Gotta go with Dale.
Spaceman on April 9th, 2009 7:41 am

Earnhardt is so over-rated and several of the guys who would have been his major competition died prematurely (Allison, Kulwiki, and Richmond). Plus the “new” fans tend to go with the later era drivers. I’ll go with Rex White.
themadman on April 9th, 2009 8:22 am

I agree with Spaceman. Earnhardt is over-rated. Rex White was pretty good on dirt tracks and short tracks. Not to mention he knew how to set up his car. Rex would win simply by having a car that could handle and drive away from Earnhardt.
outlawracinfan on April 9th, 2009 9:17 am

easy one dale earnhardt…back in the 60′s they never had templates rules show up at the track with ur cubic inches..i guess petty was over rated with 7 championships with 200 wins..i guess earnhardt never raced on dirt um i think dale worked in a garage dropped out of school too work on his car and racing career
Don on April 9th, 2009 9:23 am

I gotta agree with showing some love for Rex. He was probably more versatile than Dale (dirt, mechanical ability, etc). And Rex is a heckofa nice guy. He shows up at lots of the old time driver reunion events and always has time to talk and tell some great stories. However, (and I was one of ‘em who went with Bobby Isaac over DE), my head has to overrule my heart this time. So, I’ll go with Dale.
Rick on April 9th, 2009 11:48 am

Done Deal…..Dale!
Michael Baker on April 9th, 2009 10:24 pm

Dale was the best but sadly he did not win the 500 in ’01 – he was looking good for 3rd place, but didn’t make it back to the start/finish line – at least not on the track. He won the Daytona 500 in 1998. I’m sure Rex White was a hellofa driver, but all told, given the rules an competition – no one will ever top Dale. Sure do miss him.
Charlie Turner on April 9th, 2009 11:25 pm

Michael, thanks for catching my typo on the ’98 500. I fixed it, and apologize to everybody for the slip up.
Michael Baker on April 10th, 2009 12:55 pm

Not at all Charlie – I appreciated the idea – I’m sure I’d make a typo now and then if I wrote and knew as much as you about the history of this greatest-of-all sport. I know he was just a man – and a flawed one at that – but he had really grown to be a sage and good man – he really added a lot to the sport. I really appreciate how his boy handles himself too. Thanks for running this feature – it sure is tough to compare these guys – and the bias I feel from having only followed the sport since the mid 80s is big. Still, this feature pays tribute to lots of great people. Long live NASCAR.
Charlie Turner on April 10th, 2009 4:47 pm

Michael, I’m glad you are enjoying this little tourney of ours. It has been fun for us too. And I’m learning about some of these guys as I do the research, so don’t give me so much credit.

Thanks again for the comments.
Bhester on April 10th, 2009 11:43 pm

Dale
Charlie Turner on April 13th, 2009 10:10 pm

Dale.
Dale Earnhardt Edges David Pearson: NASCAR’s 64 Greatest Drivers Tourney : Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie on June 24th, 2009 1:06 pm

[...] supporters gave him victories over Bobby Isaac, Rex White, Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson leading up to the Four Wide [...]

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