From the 9 starts with RYR he had 2 poles, 2 wins, 1 second and 1 third earning $584,483 so it was no surprise when he joined RYR full time for the fateful 1994 season.
Ernie's Winston Cup career was really looking up, when disaster struck. 1994 saw Ernie battling for the points lead in the first 20 races of the season with old adversary Dale Earnhardt. Ernie had 5 poles, 3 wins, 6 second's and 3 third's, then came his accident during practice at Michigan.
Irvan was left near death and in a coma on Aug. 20, 1994 when he crashed during a practice session at Michigan International Speedway. His recovery has been nothing of miraculous, with the only remnant a frustrating double vision in his left eye that his doctors say may eventually go away. The double vision has now gone away.
Ernie missed the last 11 races of the season after being given only a 10% chance of survival BUT he was awarded the True Value Hard Charger Award as the driver who led the most miles during the season, quite a feat!!
Kenny Wallace drove the #28 car for the remainder of the 1994 season.
ERNIE RETURNS TO RACING
"I tell you, if your stuff is ready to go to the front, I'm going to try to go to the front, just like I normally do,"
Still, his first real race experience since before his accident came on a Saturday in a SuperTruck race. Ernie started second and lead twice in the early going. He slipped back to seventh place at the midway point, due to worn tires, but still appeared to be in the hunt. The trucks took a halfway break in the race, and Irvan's crew attempted to change his sway bar during the intermission. They were unable to get the job done in time and Irvan retired without ever getting back into the event. "We were running pretty good and faded there just before the break," the disappointed-but-buoyant Irvan said. "We were just trying to do too much during the half-time. We're not running for points or anything, so we'll just call it a day."
13 months after the accident Ernie returned to the Winston Cup series in a second Robert Yates Texaco Havoline Ford Thunderbird. Ernie started 3 races in the #88 car after having 3 starts in the NASCAR SuperTruck series and posting a second and third. Ernie surprised everyone, he finished sixth and seventh and in the other race he led for 111 laps before having to retire due to mechanical problems.
In Ernie's absence, Dale Jarrett, was hired to replace Irvan in the 1995 season, remains in the team's traditional No. 28, while Irvan's new car is painted nearly identically and bears No. 88. The two will switch numbers but run as teammates in 1996. "What was really neat was that the first person to congratulate Ernie (after his qualifying effort for that weekends race) was Dale Jarrett,"" McReynolds said. "We came up and tested here two weeks ago and it was great to see the two guys working together.""
The scene was set for the 1996 season and it started well with Ernie qualifying for the outside pole at Daytona and won a twin 125 qualifying race leading from start to finish. Then in July at Loudon NH Ernie's comeback was complete with him taking the checkered flag in the Jiffy Lube 300 with team mate Dale Jarrett taking second.
Ernie got a second place at Indianapolis when the Loudon placings were reversed giving Robert Yates another 1-2. In September Ernie took his second win of the season in the Miller 400 at Richmond after having a last lap duel with Jeff Gordon.
