TALLADEGA, Ala. — There’s something about Talladega Superspeedway — its ardent Earnhardt fans, the success his family has had at the track — that makes Dale Earnhardt Jr. feel a responsibility to put on a show.

He failed to deliver last year, using a strategy that took him out of contention for the win, admitting he was “just really, really ashamed of that” decision.

Earnhardt vowed to never again be cautious at the Alabama track, to always race aggressively for the win.

It paid off Sunday with an emotional first win of the season.

“Even if I wreck ... we’re going to be racing for the lead or trying to anyways,” Earnhardt said. “That’s my mentality till I don’t race anymore.”

NASCAR’s most popular driver received a thunderous ovation as he pumped his fist outside the car window during a slow victory lap. He stopped at the flag stand to grab the checkered flag and flew it out his car window as he savored his trip around the track and into victory lane.

It was Earnhardt’s sixth victory at Talladega — but first since 2004 — and he choked back tears after he climbed from his No. 88 Chevrolet.

“It’s just real emotional. I haven’t won here in a long time. It was my daddy’s birthday a couple of days ago, and I’m just real emotional, man,” he said.

The late Dale Earnhardt, a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee, won 10 times at the Alabama track. He would have celebrated his 64th birthday Wednesday.

“I think about all the races he won here and at Daytona, I love when we go to victory lane because I feel like I add to his legacy there,” he said. “All I ever want to do is make him proud. I feel like when we win at those tracks where he was successful, that’s exactly what we’re doing.

“I don’t really get to think about him that much. His birthday came and went. Today, it made me think about his birthday, how much I miss him, how much he meant to me and so many more people.”