If bump drafting were to be classified as an art, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the artist. No, it's not just us saying it. This comes from Jimmie Johnson, who will forever remember Dale Jr’s 2011 run at Talladega.

In 2011, when tandem drafting was almost the regular strategy for superspeedways, Hendrick Motorsports got to see one of the finest exhibitions of that craft. Locking out the starting four grid slots with Jeff Gordon taking pole, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, and Dale Jr in that order. 

Gordon and Martin paired up early in the race, as did Dale Jr and Jimmie Johnson. The race was rather exhilarating with 88 lead changes, but nothing as climactic as the finish. 

Looking back on that race ahead of the 2026 Talladega Cup weekend, Johnson explained how the team was working on different iterations, the communications with the pushing car, and how the spotters work. And when it came time to choose who pushes, Johnson said, "Dale’s like, 'I don’t want to lead. I don’t want to see what’s coming. I just want to hold a wide-open push.'"

Johnson said that there was an agreement that if both he and Dale Jr. were nose to tail on the final lap, they would race.

"The way Dale Jr thought and thinks about things, I feel like we had the best scenario. We really perfected this style of racing. I honestly want to give all the credit, most of the credit to Junior." Johnson added, "The way he was thinking was out of the norm, and my brain wasn’t going there."

On the final lap, three pairs of cars (one in the front and another on the tail) went three-wide on the final lap. Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer, in their Richard Childress Chevys, were on the outside, Gordon and Martin down the middle, and a chasing duo of Johnson and Dale Jr. on the inside. Dale Jr. gave Johnson a mighty push to the #48 over the line first by just 0.002 seconds ahead of Clint Bowyer. 

Jimmie Johnson's gift and Earnhardt Jr.'s reply

After winning, Jimmie Johnson had tried to hand over the winner's trophy to Dale Jr., who finished second. But the No. 88 driver wasn’t accepting it. He finally took the checkered flag after multiple requests from Johnson.

But that’s not all, Johnson sent Dale Jr a gift as well. "I did send Junior, I think it was 50 cases of beer to his house," said Johnson. "He said, 'I will accept these, but let’s not consider that the fee.'"

Johnson said what Dale Jr actually wanted was to be pushed to a win. Unfortunately, such a situation never materialized on the track. "He never wanted to be the leader, so I was never able to reciprocate, and we never found ourselves in a scenario where it was just us, to where he would have been in the prime position to kind of pull outside drafting and get by," Johnson concluded.

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Written by

Debrup Chaudhuri

Edited by

Yask Kotak