Ernie Irvan's Most Memorable Moment

Modesto, Calfornia's Ernie Irvan's last win came in the 1997 Miller 400 at Michigan International Raceway on June 15, 1997.

However, it was more then just a driver's last win.

It was a story about a driver who through it all, never gave up and won at the track that nearly took his life in a devastating crash just three years earlier.

When the 1994 season started off,  Irvan was considered a favorite. He was driving a car that had a wonderful car owner in Robert Yates and an even better crew chief in Larry McRenyolds. A team that was going through the tough situation of losing a driver just six months prior to the 1994 Daytona 500 and a team that was still hungry for a championship, which got away from them in 1992.

Irvan himself had a past he would like to bury. For the first part of Irvan's career, he was considered a very erratic driver. He won the 1991 Daytona 500, but he caused a lot of accidents and was given the nickname of "Swervin' Irvan" by fans and competitors.

Many people thought this would be Irvan's downfall.

However in 1994, everything seemed to click for the No. 28 car and Irvan. He finished runner-up in the Daytona 500, to Sterling Marlin and started off the year with five straight top 10s including back-to-back wins. One more win got Irvan before Watkins Glen, and coming into Michigan, Irvan was just 27 points behind Dale Earnhardt.

The 1994 season was shaping up to be a classic. That was until the following Saturday morning when a hush came across the Michigan International Raceway. The same hush—that filled Daytona in February when Neil Bonnett lost his life. A hush that can only be described as chilling.

It was because of a hard collision that happened when Irvan's No. 28 Ford slammed the outside wall head on. Medivacs brought Irvan to St. Joseph's Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He had critical brain and lung injuries, and doctors only gave Ernie a 10 percent chance to live through the night.

The first two days Irvan hung on and by early September, he was looking and feeling a lot better. He was sent to Charlotte Institute of Rehabilitation.

Two weeks later, Irvan addressed the fans at Charlotte Motor Speedway and in December would show up to the awards banquet in New York, each time looking better and better.

Through the first part of 1995, Irvan kept building strength and on Sept. 5, 1995 Irvan was cleared by NASCAR to race.

It was an amazing comeback for a man who had almost died a year earlier. Irvan's comeback would come in the Craftsman Truck Series race at North Wilkesboro. To show he was back, Irvan set his No. 28 Ford on the outside pole.

He passed Mike Skinner and led 24 laps before mechanical issues sidelined him. However, the most important thing was that Ernie Irvan was back. He would run three races in the Cup Series as well. In two of those races, Irvan had top 10s.

The 1996 season, Irvan won two races and finished 10th in the points. It looked like all the pieces were in place for 1997.

However, the year didn't turn out as well as they all expected. The first 13 races Irvan had just four top 10s and had three DNF's. The 14th race of the year was Michigan—the track where Irvan's biggest nightmare had occurred just three years earlier.

The beginning of the 1997 Miller 400 looked like any Michigan race in the mid 1990s—Ford's dominated. Irvan's teammate, Dale Jarrett, sat on the pole.

By the end of the race however, four Fords were the class of the field. Bill Elliott, Mark Martin, Ted Musgrave, and Irvan. With 20 laps to go, Irvan passed Ted Musgrave and pulled away. On the final lap, the crowd at Michigan began standing—Irvan had done it.

He got back at the track that nearly killed him and he won the 1997 Miller 400.

Irvan would race until 1999, never really finding the same success he had in 1994. But it was the last day Ernie Irvan shined, and maybe, his most memorable!