NASCAR: Richard Childress to pace Talladega field in Dale Earnhardt’s car
By Asher Fair
Richard Childress is set to pace the field ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Talladega Superspeedway in Dale Earnhardt’s famous #3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
Leading the field to the green flag for the NASCAR Cup Series round of 12 playoff race, the 1000Bulbs.com 500, at Talladega Superspeedway in mid-October will be Richard Childress Racing team owner Richard Childress.
Childress is set to lead the field to the green flag for this 188-lap race around the four-turn, 2.66-mile (4.281-kilometer) high-banked Talladega Superspeedway oval in Lincoln, Alabama driving a race car of his own.
He is set to drive the late Dale Earnhardt’s #3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
What a cool tribute.
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) September 18, 2019
The same car Dale Earnhardt raced to his last win in @NASCAR, will be used as the pace car for this year's race at @TalladegaSuperS.
It'll be driven by his team owner Richard Childress. pic.twitter.com/KBhQ86pCUI
NEWS: Richard Childress will pace the field at @TalladegaSuperS in the No. 3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet that Dale Earnhardt drove at Talladega in 2000, his last NASCAR victory. #RCR50 pic.twitter.com/ZBWugsdkiW
— RCR (@RCRracing) September 18, 2019
Earnhardt, who was tragically killed in a last-lap crash in the 2001 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, drove for Richard Childress Racing throughout much of his 27-year Cup Series career, a career that included 76 victories and a record-tying seven championships.
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Earnhardt, who earned 67 of his 76 victories and won six of his seven championships driving for Richard Childress Racing, is considered the greatest driver in the history of Talladega Superspeedway with an all-time record 10 victories and an all-time record 23 top five finishes.
Driving the #3 Richard Childress Racing GM Goodwrench Chevrolet Monte Carlo in the October race at the track in the 2000 season, the Winston 500, the Kannapolis, North Carolina native secured the 76th and final victory of his illustrious career, and he did it in spectacular fashion, moving from 18th place to the race lead over the course of the race’s final four laps. He won the race by 0.119 seconds over Kenny Wallace in second.
Here is what Childress had to say about getting behind the wheel of the #3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet Monte Carlo during a press conference at Talladega Superspeedway.
"“(Talladega president) Grant Lynch called me and says, ‘What do you think about bringing Dale’s car down here that he won the race with in 2000?’ I said, ‘I don’t know.’ But how do you say no to your best friend on something like this. So I said, ‘alright, I’ll do it.’“We’re going to be running that car leading the field, which is going to be a great honor. That car hasn’t been out of our museum since we opened the doors of it, so this will be the first time we took it down, put it on the shop floor, got it all fixed, got the engine running – same engine that he had in the car that day.“It’s the exact car just like the day when it left the winner’s circle here…That’s going to be the coolest thing. I’ve told a few people about it and what they tell me it gives me cold chills just thinking about it.”"
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NBC Sports Network’s live broadcast of the 1000Bulbs.com 500, the 31st race on the 36-race 2019 NASCAR Cup Series schedule and the fifth of 10 races on the playoff schedule, from Talladega Superspeedway is set to begin at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, October 13.