Hard core to the finish.

Better hold on tight or get out of the way. Dale Earnhardt smells an eighth Winston Cup championship, and he won't be slowed by age or the competition.

Dale Earnhardt had to quit.

It was August 3, 1996, at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and for once, Earnhardt could forgive himself for not fighting back the tears. Seven laps into the Brickyard 400, pain drove him from his famous No. 3 black Chevrolet. The G-forces at the high speed track with the flat corners were too much for his broken collarbone.

The shoulder harnesses strapped tightly over Earnhardt's chest caused relentless pressure on his sternum. It had cracked like an egg a week earlier at Talladega in the worst wreck of his Winston Cup career, which now covers 26 years.

For the first time since 1979, when he was rookie of the year, Earnhardt couldn't finish what he started, couldn't exert the force of his will to mask the pain that wracked his body. Watching Mike Skinner take his place behind the wheel was one of the low points of Earnhardt's life.

Dale Earnhardt is not a quitter.

Two weeks after the Talladega crash and six days after the devastation of Indianapolis, Earnhardt showed why he is hard core. He made a stirring return at Watkins Glen, winning the pole and setting a track record on the 2.45-mile road course. His body still ached on race day, but he twisted and turned left and right all afternoon and finished sixth.