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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Junior’s Winning No. 3 Roars Into Hall
Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s winning Chevrolet Impala is in the NASCAR Hall Of Fame...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted July 14, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Dale Earnhardt Jr. celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
The newest race car in the NASCAR Hall of Fame isn’t old. In fact, it’s so new the stains from the beverages splashed on the vehicle in victory lane are easily visible on the windows.

Hall of Fame director Winston Kelley and JR Motorsports officials unveiled the new exhibit – Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s winning Chevrolet Impala from this month’s Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway – in a press conference at the hall Wednesday.

Earnhardt Jr. has placed the race car on loan to the hall through Sept. 19. It will be on display in the building’s Great Hall and will remain in the condition in which it left Daytona’s victory lane July 2.

Through a complex series of partnerships with Richard Childress Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, JR Motorsports and Teresa Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s widow, Earnhardt Jr. ran the car ¬– which carried Wrangler sponsorship colors and his father’s number, 3 – in the Daytona Nationwide race. Junior completed the emotional evening by winning the race, then declared that he will never race the No. 3 again.

Kelley had requested that JR Motorsports make the car available to the hall even before Earnhardt Jr. drove it to victory. It will be on display for about two months at the hall before it is returned to the JR Motorsports shop, where it will either remain intact and preserved or dismantled for pieces that might be used in other races.

JR Motorsports co-owner Kelley Earnhardt, Junior’s sister, attended the press conference along with Tony Eury Jr., who crew-chiefed the car, and long-time Earnhardt family associate and team executive Tony Eury Sr.

Earnhardt Jr., on vacation during a Sprint Cup off week, did not attend.

“This is icing on the cake,” Kelley Earnhardt said. “It was a special deal and a tribute. That was Dale’s meaning around it. It was a tribute to our dad. We’ll definitely keep the car around one way or another.
The NASCAR Nationwide Series Subway Jalapeno 250 at Daytona International Speedway was won by Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

“To have this car in victory lane at Daytona was really unbelievable. That’s exactly what we wanted, but the competition is so tough. It was in reach, but to actually do it was incredible.”

Although the car has practical value because it is a “new” model Nationwide vehicle and could be used in other key races this season, Eury Jr. said he’ll be surprised if the team chooses to put the now-special car in competition again.

“If it never races again, it will be fine with me,” Eury Jr. said. “That might be where our hearts wind up. Right now we want to put in a showcase and let the fans get near it.”

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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