BREAKING NEWS: Dale Earnhardt, one of the greatest stars in auto racing history, died Sunday from injuries in a last-lap crash at the Daytona 500. The seven-time Winston Cup champion had to be cut out of his car after slamming into the wall on the final turn of the race while fighting for position. He was taken to the hospital accompanied by his son, Dale Jr., a young NASCAR star who finished second in the race. "This is understandably the toughest announcement I’ve ever had to make. We’ve lost Dale Earnhardt," NASCAR president Mike Helton said. Earnhardt died instantly of head injuries, said Steve Bohannon, a doctor at Halifax Medical Center. "There was nothing that could have been done for him," he said. The death comes at a time that driver safety issues were under increased scrutiny. Three NASCAR drivers were killed in wrecks last season. -- DAYTONA BEACH — Michael Waltrip picked some race for his first victory - a wild, crash-marred Daytona 500 that put Dale Earnhardt in the hospital with serious injuries. The younger brother of three-time Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip finally took the checkered flag Sunday after 15 years and 463 races in NASCAR’s top stock car series. "This is the Daytona 500, and I won it!" he shouted in a raspy voice. "I won the Daytona 500! I can’t believe it!" Even as Waltrip celebrated the biggest moment of his life, his new boss, Earnhardt, was being taken to the Halifax Medical Center after a last-lap crash. His condition wasn’t immediately disclosed; Danielle Humphrey, a NASCAR spokeswoman, said only that it was "serious." "The only reason I won this race is Dale Earnhardt," Waltrip said. "He wasn’t in Victory Lane and my heart is hurting now. I want to be with him." The race, with two- and three-wide driving and constantly changing positions, was also interrupted by a 21-car crash that sent Tony Stewart’s car flying through the air. He, too, was taken to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with a concussion. Waltrip took the lead 16 laps from the end of the 200-lap race at Daytona International Speedway and stayed in front, with teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the elder Earnhardt protecting his flank. "I thought it might be too bold or bragging to say we could win it in our first race as a team," Waltrip said. "But I thought we could." Earnhardt Sr., the 1998 Daytona winner and considered the master of high-speed oval racing, was fending off challenges from Kenny Schrader and Sterling Marlin when he and Schrader made contact, sending Earnhardt’s Chevrolet smashing into the fourth-turn wall. The 49-year-old driver and car owner had to be cut from his battered vehicle and was accompanied to the hospital by Dale Jr., who rushed to the scene of the wreck moments after following Waltrip’s No. 15 Monte Carlo across the finish line. "I could never have won without Dale Jr.," Waltrip said. "I could never have won without the belief of Dale Sr." The younger Earnhardt, starting his second season, had a dream early in January that he was in Victory Lane at Daytona. He didn’t make it on Sunday. "Dale Jr. is my friend," Waltrip said. "He had a dream he won the Daytona 500 and he did. He won it for me." A record 195,000 spectators, watching on a sunny, cool afternoon, spent most of the day on their feet as the action rarely stopped on the high-banked track. Thanks to the aerodynamic package that NASCAR came up with to promote better racing after last year’s yawner at Daytona, the 43rd version of the stock car Super Bowl produced 49 lead changes among 14 drivers. Last year, there were just nine lead changes and virtually no real racing. The first race with the new superspeedway aero package, last October at Talladega Superspeedway, was just as breathtaking. It had 49 lead changes and race-long action, but the drivers somehow avoided what seemed inevitable - a big crash. Not this time. On lap 174, Stewart went flying and cars were crashing and spinning all over the back straightaway. When it was over, eight of last year’s top 10 in the final points, including champion Bobby Labonte and three-time and defending Daytona winner Dale Jarrett, were knocked out of the race or had severe car damage. "There was no getting through it. It was like a wall of cars," said Jeff Gordon, a two-time Daytona winner. Not everyone was happy with the tight, tense racing.
