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Each time NASCAR’s major tour returns to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, as it does this weekend for a 300-mile race, I think of Ernie Irvan.

It was at the track tucked into a New England forest that Irvan achieved what most who followed stock car racing considered highly unlikely, if not impossible.

He won once again.

Just 99 weeks after being given only a 10 percent chance to live after being hurt critically in a crash, Irvan enlivened his miracle recovery on July 14, 1996 by winning the Jiffy Lube 300.

"People doubted we could ever do this again,” Irvan said following his victory on what’s now the Sprint Cup Series. "I never doubted, and neither did my team."

Californian Irvan, then 37, sustained injuries to the head and lungs on Aug. 20, 1994, when he wrecked during a practice run for the Goodwrench 400 at Michigan International Speedway. He was hospitalized for weeks in Michigan and then Charlotte.

After undergoing grueling rehabilitation, Irvan returned to the then Winston Cup tour in October of 1995 for the Tyson Holly Farms 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, finishing sixth.

He won a 125-mile qualifying race leading to the Daytona 500 in February of ‘96, but that doesn't count as an official event. Irvan's first "points race" victory in the comeback was scored in his 19th start after being sidelined.

"I knew in my heart and my mind that I hadn’t scored my last victory, " continued Irvan, who made the New Hampshire triumph the 13th of his career.

With a crowd estimated at 82,000 waving him on, some with tears in their eyes, Irvan drove his No. 28 Ford to the checkered flag 5.47 seconds ahead of runner-up Dale Jarrett, a teammate at Robert Yates Racing, then based in Charlotte.

Ironically, the triumph came in the same event that was the last for the late Davey Allison, Irvan’s predecessor on the Yates team. Allison died after of a helicopter crash on July 12, 1993 - the day after the 300 at Loudon, N.H.-as he attempted to land at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. After the dramatic finish, Irvan whipped his black Thunderbird around and took a clockwise victory lap, known as a "Polish Lap" because the late Alan Kulwicki did it on the occasion of his first victory at Phoenix Raceway in 1988.

Kulwicki, the 1992 Winston Cup champion, died on April 1, 1993, in a plane crash at Blountville, Tenn.

"I went around backward in tribute to Davey and Alan, " said Irvan. "I admired them both. Someday we'll be up there in heaven with them. They're probably up there racing each other right now."

Said Irvan’s crew chief, Larry McReynolds: "Gosh, the emotions are overflowing. . . . What a story, for Ernie to win for the first time back at the last place Davey ran is just incredible.

“Ernie’s comeback is complete now. We're not in the comeback mode anymore. We're ready to win more races."

As usual at New Hampshire, it was a race of pit strategy and track position on a speedway where the asphalt was breaking up in Turns 3-4. Irvan, with Yates and McReynolds plotting the strategy, last pitted on the 245th of the 300 laps, taking on right side tires and fuel. When rivals pitted later, Irvan took the lead on Lap 278 and was ahead the rest of the way.

"The biggest concern the final laps was getting through the ‘gravel pit' in Turn 3-4 where the track was breaking up, " said Irvan, who earned $112,625. "Obviously, we made it all right.

"I'm happy to be a winner again. There was no doubt in my mind that this day would come.”

In epilogue, Irvan won again in ’96, taking Miller 400 at Richmond Raceway. And in a triumphant return to the Michigan track that almost took his life, he captured the Miller 400 of 1997.

But then, in a cruel, ironic twist of fate, the Michigan speedway dealt Ernie another cruel blow on Aug. 20, 1999. He crashed while driving his own car and once again had to be airlifted to a nearby hospital with severe injuries.

Two weeks later, with his wife and two children at his side, Irvan, named one of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers, announced during a tearful press conference at Darlington Raceway that he was retiring.

Irvan continues to reside in the Charlotte area, where he owns a chain of businesses.