Early Monday morning, Austin Dillon drove the No. 3 Chevrolet to the NASCAR Cup Series’ victory lane at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was the number’s first visit there since October 2000, when Dale Earnhardt won his final race at Talladega Superspeedway.
The number has only been back in the Cup Series since 2014, when Richard Childress’ grandson, began driving full-time in the Cup Series.
On NASCAR America, two drivers from different generations, Dale Jarrett and Parker Kligerman, responded to the historic moment for the sport and for Richard Childress Racing.
“I assure you Dale Earnhardt would appreciate the efforts that have been made by Richard Childress and Austin Dillon to make all this happen,” Jarrett said. “There are going to be people who say about last night he was lucky to win this race. You’re not lucky to win any race. You have to put yourself into a position. You have to have a fast enough race car to make fuel mileage work in certain conditions. ... This man has worked very hard to get where he is and he did a tremendous job. When you save that much fuel, you know exactly what you’re doing as a race car driver.”
Watch the video for the full segment and for Parker Kligerman’s thoughts.