Dale Earnhardt Sr. would have been 64 years old today.

He's a legend, perhaps the most beloved driver in NASCAR's long history.

Why? Because as tough as he was, he was just likeable. He was charming. Sure he acted like a jerk on track sometimes, but you could forgive him for it because of that charm.

None of today's drivers who have their share of haters -- Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, etc. -- can claim the type of charm Earnhardt had. So fans are less forgiving of them.

And none of them can claim his level of competitiveness either.

Earnhardt cared only about winning. If he didn't he wasn't happy. It didn't matter how much money he made or how many titles he won, he wanted to win every week, and would wreck his buddy to do it (ask Terry Labonte if you don't believe me).

Then he'd take you hunting in the offseason (and no, I don't believe Terry every took a shot at him, even after Bristol).

I was lucky enough to catch the end of Dale Sr.'s career -- the magic moments at Atlanta (75th win) and Talladega (76th and final win after an amazing run to the front on the bumper of Kenny Wallace over a stunning final two laps). I saw him win at Daytona after 20 years of trying. I saw his temper, as fiesty as ever, when he flipped off Kurt Busch in the early laps of the 2001 Daytona 500. I saw him race hard each and every week, until the end, and race with pride in his final race as his teammate and friend Michael Waltrip headed toward his first win.

Dale Earnhardt Sr. was who he was -- a great driver, a kind man to the fans (I've heard so many stories of how well he treated the people who rooted him on), and that's part of the reason his son is so popular; they see some of his dad's best traits in him and it lets them carry on rooting for the guy they thought would live forever.

I was at Daytona the day Earnhardt passed in 2001, writing sad words into a computer about how he had left this Earth.

But the reality is that he never really left the sport and his influence still lingers -- both in the safety measures he inspired and the driving styles of some of today's toughest competitors, who are no doubt channeling the Intimidator.

It's been 14 years since Dale left us, and there hasn't been another like him, nor will there be.

Matt Myftiu can be reached on Twitter @MattMyftiu. Follow AutoTechReviews on Twitter at @AutoTechReview.

Normally I'm a defender of issues relating to NASCAR's Chase format.

As the old-fashioned crowd continue to scream, "Bring back the old points system, the Chase is garbage," ignoring the fact that championships were often sealed weeks in advance in boring fashion in past decades, I defend the Chase because it does provide a more exciting battle for the crown in the Cup series.

I love the "win and you're in" setup because it encourages drivers to battle harder during the regular season, and the four-man battle at Homestead is edge-of-the-seat exciting.

But I've finally found my area where I'm tired of NASCAR's tinkering, and that's with the Chase waivers.

Please stop, Brian France.

Entering Saturday night’s Richmond 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, Danica Patrick and her No. 10 GoDaddy

Chevrolet SS team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) have enjoyed quite a bit of success on short tracks thus far in 2015.

They scored a seventh-place finish at the .526-mile Martinsville (Va.) Speedway late last month. It was Patrick’s first Sprint Cup top-10 at a short track. Last weekend at the .533-mile Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, she earned her second top-10 of the season – a ninth-place run at the high-banked short track. The effort marked the sixth top-10 finish of Patrick’s Sprint Cup career, setting the record for the most top-10 finishes ever by a female in Sprint Cup competition.
While the results have been great, the finishes haven’t come easy. They have been earned through a lot of hard work by Patrick and the members of her No. 10 GoDaddy Chevrolet SS team.

Here are the thoughts of the Stewart-Haas Racing team drivers (Tony Stewart,  Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick) ahead of this weekend's race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

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DANICA PATRICK, Driver of the No. 10:

Do you like racing at Bristol?

“I do. I like Bristol. Obviously, it can be a little bit – the cars definitely got in a train last time we were here. It was tough. It was a little bit hard to pass. But like I said, that is why the bottom becomes important because, if you get stuck or even if you start on the bottom on a restart, if your car is turning, you can make that work, I think, for a little while. I think qualifying is going to be really important, so I’m definitely going to find myself doing a lot more qualifying runs – as many as possible before qualifying in the afternoon. But, I’ve liked Bristol since the first time I came here.”

All the hype this NASCAR season is focused on the big names, the guys winning races -- understandably so.

Kevin Harvick is a contender to win every week and likely the favorite to win the championship for a second straight year.

Jimmie Johnson, despite having some rough weeks, is as good as he's always been and will no doubt step up come Chase time; he's already got a couple wins under his belt, just like Harvick.