The No. 3 has been looming in the shadows for the past thirteen years. We saw it on the back windows of cars, on the shirts of long-time fans, on flags in the infield, but now, we will see it where it belongs…leading the pack in the Daytona 500.
On pole day, rookie Austin Dillon took the “Return of the Three” moniker to new levels when he asserted himself as the fastest man in Daytona, and in doing so, conjured up memories of the days when “The Intimidator” once ruled over the massive super-speedway.
Some fans were delighted to see the three earn pole position, others were appalled. A few even declared that no one should care because, and I quote, “it’s just a number.” That erroneous, shortsighted, and somewhat audacious remark got my attention and is what led me to put together the proceeding article.
The three is the mark of an icon….a symbol of a legend who’s untimely and tragic death only helped further solidify his place among racing’s immortals. It represents the legacy of a man who changed the sport of NASCAR forever with what he did on the track, and also with what he lost on it. The No. 3 stopped being “just a number” the day Dale Earnhardt entered turn three on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
The No. 3 has been personified far beyond the simplistic and modest form of any other digit. The three to NASCAR is like a flag to a nation, or a coat of arms to a family. It may be a simple stroke of a paint brush or the cutting out of a vinyl sticker that creates it, but the second it takes the shape that Farrell Hinker and Richard Childress once envisioned so many years ago, it instantly becomes so much more than a simple number on a car.
It has a certain mystique about it that can’t fully be explained. The three is like a torch, that only a few are worthy to carry. When the No . 3 races, it doesn’t just carry a driver, but a story and the hearts of millions of fans with it. There are intense emotions, and for some like myself, childhood memories tied to it. Numbers in their most fundamental form don’t make people cry, but the three does.
The No. 3 is a salute we give with three fingers, to commemorate a fallen hero….an allegory for what NASCAR racing was, is, and always be.
Im thinking the same way now there’s no way of explaining it I’ve tried to come to terms with it but The #3 will always remind me of The Man in Black the Legend the Gr88t Driver I have ever have known ♡