There are moments in any sport when fans of all kinds pull together for one person or one team to overcome the odds and win, no matter whether they are normally a fan of that group or not.

Such was the case with NASCAR this decade, a time when tragedy struck the sport and caused those within its community to pull together to attempt to overcome the emotions of a loss. From the death of Dale Earnhardt in the 2001 season-opening Daytona 500 to the loss of 10 friends and family members of Hendrick Motorsports in a 2004 plane crash near Martinsville Superspeedway, the sport has dealt with considerable loss over the past decade.

In those moments, and others when emotions ran high, drivers and teams stepped up and helped briefly deal with those wounds with a stellar performance on the track.

Here's a look at NASCAR Scene's 10 Most Emotional Victories of the decade:

1. Kevin Harvick, Atlanta Motor Speedway, 2001: Richard Childress Racing, reeling from the loss of Dale Earnhardt in the season-opening Daytona 500, had put Kevin Harvick in the car. The young driver was making just his third start of his Cup career, at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March, when he stormed to the front and narrowly edged Jeff Gordon for the win. Fans of Earnhardt, who were already holding up three fingers in honor of the driver of the famed No. 3 on the third lap of each race, rejoiced.

2. Steve Park, North Carolina Motor Speedway, 2001: Hearts were heavy as the series traveled to Rockingham and prepared to race just days after the loss of Earnhardt in the Daytona 500. News conferences were held by Richard Childress and others to announce that the team was putting Harvick in the car. The race started on Sunday, but was rain-delayed to finish on Monday. Then Steve Park took his Dale Earnhardt Inc. team to victory for an emotional celebration.

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Daytona International Speedway, 2001: When the Cup series returned to Daytona in July, talk and thoughts were obviously centered on Earnhardt. Dale Earnhardt Jr. somehow managed to rise above all of that and turn in an emotional victory at the track where he had lost his father.

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4. Jimmie Johnson, Martinsville Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, 2004: As he raced at Martinsville, Johnson was unaware of the plane crash that earlier in the day had taken the lives of 10 friends and family members when a Hendrick Motorsports plane crashed nearby. The teams were told immediately after the race that they had lost team President John Hendrick; his twin daughters Kimberly and Jennifer; Rick Hendrick's son, Ricky Hendrick; engine builder Randy Dorton; general manager Jeff Turner; Joe Jackson, an executive with DuPont, sponsor of Jeff Gordon's car; Scott Lathram, a pilot for Tony Stewart; and pilots Dick Tracy and Liz Morrison. The team's drivers held an emotional news conference the following week at Atlanta - and then Johnson went out and won the race once more.

5. Michael Waltrip, Daytona International Speedway, 2001. Michael Waltrip had raced 462 times without a victory heading into the season-opening Daytona 500. A new hire at Dale Earnhardt Inc., he opened his tenure in the season's biggest race with a win. His emotional win, however, was followed by the news that Earnhardt had been killed in a crash.

6. Tony Stewart, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 2005: Stewart had long dreamed of winning at Indianapolis after growing up in that area. The driver had competed in both open-wheel and stock cars at the track, but it wasn't until 2005 that he and his Joe Gibbs Racing team finally hoisted the trophy and kissed the bricks at the track.

7. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Texas Motor Speedway, 2000: Earnhardt Jr. was a former champion in what is now known as the Nationwide Series and a Cup rookie when he went to victory lane at Texas for his first career victory. His father and their legion of fans celebrated his first win.

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8. Bill Elliott, Homestead-Miami Speedway, 2001: Elliott, a fan favorite who had joined the upstart Evernham Motorsports Dodge team, went to victory lane in the season-ending race for his first career win in seven years.

9. Terry Labonte, Darlington Raceway, 2003: Labonte, a two-time Cup champion, was racing on one of NASCAR's oldest tracks in the final Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Labonte won the race, snapping a three-year victory drought.

10. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Daytona 500, 2004: Earnhardt Jr., the sport's most popular driver and long a success on restrictor-plate tracks, won the famous race at the famous track three years after the loss of his father in the same event.

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