Dale Earnhardt Jr. brought a smile to NASCAR fans as he wheeled an homage to his late father into Victory Lane on Friday night at the Daytona International Speedway.
Driving a Number 3 Nationwide Series Chevrolet, in his father’s Wrangler livery, the son of the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. held off Joey Logano for his first victory in the Nationwide series since 2006 and his first victory in a NASCAR division since 2008. It was his 23rd Nationwide victory.
More importantly, driving a Hendrick Motorsports Car entered by Richard Childress Racing (formerly the owner of Earnhardt Senior’s car), Earnhardt Jr. warmed the hearts of many NASCAR fans by recalling his late father.
"Anything less than a win was pointless. Did we even honor him by bringing it out and finishing fifth? I felt a lot of pressure to win. I didn't know if we could pull it off. ... It just all worked out,'' the Junior Earnhardt said.
“Daytona is a special thing to me, because of my father dying here. I'm totally a part of this place for the rest of my life,” he said.
His crew chief, and cousin Tony Eury Jr., was moved to say “we lost everything here. to come back with that number and do this, it means everything."
The younger Earnhardt’s return to Victory Lane overshadowed the debut of the new Nationwide car body styles including the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger.
Chevrolet said that they could not get the Camaro body-style to conform to NASCAR templates. Toyota does not manufacture a pony car-type like those of Detroit-based companies.
Earnhardt took the lead with 26-laps to go holding off the Toyota of Logano on a late-race restart. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in a Ford Mustang. Brad Kesolowski, the pole sitter, was fourth in a Dodge Challenger.
"I probably gained a lot of fans tonight by pushing the 3 to victory, but I'd much rather be in Victory Lane," Logano said. "It's cool to see the 3 in Victory Lane at Daytona. It's really neat. A lot of people thought they would never see that again."
Brad Keselowski extended his series points lead over Carl Edwards to 277 points. Justin Allgaier is third in the standings behind first place.
After the race Earnhardt said it would be his last race in the famous #3 Chevrolet.
Driving a Number 3 Nationwide Series Chevrolet, in his father’s Wrangler livery, the son of the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. held off Joey Logano for his first victory in the Nationwide series since 2006 and his first victory in a NASCAR division since 2008. It was his 23rd Nationwide victory.
More importantly, driving a Hendrick Motorsports Car entered by Richard Childress Racing (formerly the owner of Earnhardt Senior’s car), Earnhardt Jr. warmed the hearts of many NASCAR fans by recalling his late father.
"Anything less than a win was pointless. Did we even honor him by bringing it out and finishing fifth? I felt a lot of pressure to win. I didn't know if we could pull it off. ... It just all worked out,'' the Junior Earnhardt said.
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| Dale Earnhardt (Photo: nascar.com) |
“Daytona is a special thing to me, because of my father dying here. I'm totally a part of this place for the rest of my life,” he said.
His crew chief, and cousin Tony Eury Jr., was moved to say “we lost everything here. to come back with that number and do this, it means everything."
The younger Earnhardt’s return to Victory Lane overshadowed the debut of the new Nationwide car body styles including the Ford Mustang and Dodge Challenger.
Chevrolet said that they could not get the Camaro body-style to conform to NASCAR templates. Toyota does not manufacture a pony car-type like those of Detroit-based companies.
Earnhardt took the lead with 26-laps to go holding off the Toyota of Logano on a late-race restart. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in a Ford Mustang. Brad Kesolowski, the pole sitter, was fourth in a Dodge Challenger.
"I probably gained a lot of fans tonight by pushing the 3 to victory, but I'd much rather be in Victory Lane," Logano said. "It's cool to see the 3 in Victory Lane at Daytona. It's really neat. A lot of people thought they would never see that again."
Brad Keselowski extended his series points lead over Carl Edwards to 277 points. Justin Allgaier is third in the standings behind first place.
After the race Earnhardt said it would be his last race in the famous #3 Chevrolet.