The 3 rides again! Jr. to run the 3 at Daytona in July

No self-respecting Earnhardt fan would be caught dead driving an F-150. An S-10 half-ton, dualie, gun-rack, with enough back window space to display the "3" with the halo decal and the one of Calvin peeing on the "24" ... of course.

 

The number was never retired. (I doubt you'll see it again in a Cup race, unless it's Austin Dillon, Junior or Jeffrey Earnhardt driving it.) Just like Richard Petty's number was never retired.

Junior already ran the 3 in a Busch race years ago. Austin Dillon has run the 3 in a truck race rather recently. It's really not that big of a deal.

 

Wrangler was the sponsor at one time ...

 

Meant to say Wrangler wasn't the sponsor of Junior's 3 ride in the Busch Series.

 

This is not as big a deal as it appears. Dale Jr. has driven a 3 car on the Busch (now Nationwide) tour twice before, even won with it at Daytona in 2002. Number has never been retired, although it hasn't been used at the CUP level since Big E's death. Childress has been allowed to hold onto it. RC's grandson Austin Dillon drives a black No. 3 truck on the Camping World Truck Series.

Given how tight sponsor money is right now, I would suspect this is a deal-sweetening add-on. Call me when somebody drives a 3 car again on the Cup tour.

 

Yeah, it's essentially a repeat of his prior agreements, only now it's with Richard Childress Racing, DEI, and Hendrick Motorsports all getting together and cooperating on it for a Nationwide race.

It'd be bigger news if it was for a real Sprint Cup race.

 

Jr. driving that sickly yellow 3 wasn't awe inspiring. It'll be nice to see the Wrangler blue/yellow paint scheme back on the track.

If RCR ever puts a black 3 back on the track for a Cup race, you won't be able contain the people. That is, unless NASCAR totally drives away it's traditional fan base by then.

 

He drove that at Charlotte. He drove this to victory lane at Daytona.

 

I wasn't sure if it had been retired. Richard Childress was trying to retire it, but I guess, he wasn't successful.

 

Earnhardt (the real one) drove a Wrangler machine at The Winston in 1999. Dale and RC started the whole special paint scheme stuff at the race in 1995. IIRC, the Wrangler car in 1999 was a late substitute. Chevy wanted to introduce its new Monte Carlo at Charlotte in 1999, but NASCAR rejected the car as being too competitive. I believe the hope had been to have the Taz No. 3 with the debut of the car at Charlotte, but that paint scheme got pushed back to the car's debut at the 2000 Daytona 500. It was late in the game, so it was decided to go with a Wrangler scheme at The Winston. I could be wrong, but that's what I remember.

 

I'm pretty sure he broke out that silver/gray Bass Pro Shops paint scheme at The Winston before he did the retro-Wrangler look.

 

Earnhardt ran a Silver w/red lettering Goodwrench car in 1995, Atlanta Olympic scheme in '96, ugly orange Wheaties in '97, gold Bass Pro Shops in '98, Wrangler in '99 and the hideous Peter Maxx Crap scheme in '00. He was the Man in Neon in the 2000 Coke 600, in what I feel was the worst paint scheme in NASCAR history. Though the Elliott 'groovy' special scheme in '98 was bad, too.