Dale Jr. to stop driving No. 3: NASCAR
On Friday evening, for 300 miles of Nationwide Series racing at Daytona International Speedway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will slide through the window and into the seat of the No. 3 Wrangler Chevrolet. The last time he will in a racecar with the No. 3 on the door is on July 2, 2010. After a long-suffering Earnhardt fans who dreamed Junior would close out his career in a black No. 3, this is a stark revelation and your last chance to place your NASCAR bet on him with this number.
“I just want to go to the racetrack and run it once before I retire, and this will probably be it. After this, I’ll probably never drive a car with a 3 on it again. I can pretty much say I’m 99 percent sure that will never happen again”, said Earnhardt.
To honor Big E partly and partly out of necessity is dual initiative in the current Wrangler program. in putting the deal together and wanted to tie it into Dale Earnhardt’s Hall of Fame induction, owner of the No. 3 trademark Richard Childress , Junior’s sister, Kelley Earnhardt, Sprint Cup team owner and Teresa Earnhardt all played a role.
Throughout the season, including Daytona, the team Earnhardt Jr., owns, JR Motorsports, had sponsorship gaps. To take a business plan used several years ago and implement it again was the idea. With Wrangler, Earnhardt Jr. has a personal services agreement, and they would take a portion of that money and shift it over to the race team.
For Childress back in 2002, Junior drove a No. 3 Chevrolet, and won. He admits this project was an important, positive reconnection in the oft-cold relationship with Teresa Earnhardt, his stepmother and he appreciates Childress letting him compete in the number.
He said, “There’s a lot of different emotions it brings up in that car, when people say, ‘Hey, the 3 is coming back,’ and ‘I’m driving the 3 and all those things, and there’s a lot of emotion to that, and a lot of pros and cons, and people not happy and happy, so it’s just something I want to do and that will be that”.
