By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
This week, there was so much talk about the No. 3 returning to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was 13 years since No. 3 raced in the Sprint Cup Series before Dale Earnhardt Sr. crashed in the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
But this year’s Daytona 500 is all about Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The son of the legendary No. 3 driver has won his second Daytona 500. He also won the race in 2004 when he won the race for the first time in his career, and the biggest win of his tenure after moving to Rick Hendrick’s Hendrick Motorsports six years ago.
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“Yeah, I think so,” said Earnhardt. “Man, winning this race is the greatest feeling you can feel in this sport, besides accepting the trophy for the championship. I didn’t know if I would get to feel that feeling again. It feels just as good, if not as good as the first one, because of how hard we’ve tried year after year after year. I need to thank the National Guard, Mountain Dew, and the rest of our sponsors.”
He is one of only 11 drivers of all time to win more than one Daytona 500. There have been 531 all-time drivers that have started at the Daytona 500.
Plus, the 9-year cap between Daytona 500 wins is the largest in NASCAR history. Plus, it snaps a 55-race winless streak for the No. 88 car, as his last win came in Michigan in 2012, which snapped more than a 100-race winless streak.
This is also his first Daytona 500 win under Hendrick Motorsports. His first Daytona 500 came under the Dale Earnhardt, Inc. racing team.
It is also the first Daytona 500 for crew chief Steve Letarte. Letarte was a long-time crew chief with Jeff Gordon before making the switch to Earnhardt a few years ago.
“This is the one,” said Letarte. “You work all winter long to come down here with your best equipment. We built a good race car. If you’re going to win one, this is the one that you want to win. And we’ve given owner Rick Hendrick another500 win in the past year.”
Jimmie Johnson won the Daytona 500 last year. There was some confusion on Sunday afternoon when the race was in a rain delay, as Fox Sports re-aired the 2013 Daytona 500, making some fans think Johnson won again.
Earnhardt Jr. won under a yellow as there was a major crash involving many cars before he crossed the finish line.
There was a caution with 4 laps to go. During the caution, Earnhardt picked up a tear-off from a driver’s helmet that was on the track.
He attempted to drive the tear-off by getting close to the pace car. But the tear-off would not come off.
Yet, the tear-off would not affect the car over the car at all. There were also fears that the car could overheat with the tear-off, yet nobody could stop the white No. 88 car.
“We’ve shown them all night long how good of a car that we had,” said Earnhardt. “It’s because of these guys (the crew members), who worked long hours in the shop. We had to fight off battles all night. This is amazing, and I can’t believe this is happening. I’m not going to take this for granted, because this doesn’t happen twice, let alone once for most drivers. I’m thankful.”
Denny Hamlin, who was looking to become the first driver to sweep the week, finished in second place. He won the Sprint Unlimited race and a Budweiser Dual, before coming up short against Earnhardt.
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Brad Keselowski came in third place. Two fellow Hendrick drivers rounded out the Top five with Gordon finishing in 4th place and Johnson finishing in 5th place.
The race restarted at approximately 8:40 pm after a 6-plus hour rain delay as the race was halted at around 2 pm. The race restarted with 38 laps before the long rain delay.
“I want to thank all my fans for supporting us,” said Earnhardt. “Now, I’m in the chase, so I don’t have to worry about that. I get that off my chest, and I’m a two-time Daytona 500 winner.”
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