In 2000 Earnhardt made his Winston Cup debut at Michigan driving for Marcis Auto Racing, racing against his father Dale Earnhardt, and half-brother Dale Earnhardt, Jr. He wrecked out of the race on lap 5. It was the first of his seven Cup series starts. In 2001, the same year his father was killed at Daytona, Earnhardt was involved in a massive crash on October 4 in an ARCA race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. At Lap 63 of 67, Earnhardt had to dodge a lapped car by hitting his brakes, which caused Blaise Alexander's No. 75 to catch up to Earnhardt's No. 2. Alexander began to inch into the lead when Earnhardt's car made contact with Alexander's, sending Alexander's car head-on into the wall and back into Earnhardt's car causing Earnhardt to flip over onto his roof and slide into the grass. Earnhardt managed to climb out by himself. However a red flag flew for Alexander and seconds later the race director called it official which gave Earnhardt the victory. Alexander was pronounced dead in the in-field care center at 10:20 p.m.