The No. 3 is No. 1 again at Daytona, on a day, in a race and at a place forever linked with the great Dale Earnhardt.
Austin Dillon won the Daytona 500 on Sunday night driving the iconic No. 3 Chevrolet that Earnhardt piloted for most of his career. Earnhardt was behind the wheel of No. 3 when he won his only Daytona 500 in 1998, and when he was killed in an accident on the final lap of the race three years later.
Dillon's victory in the 60th running of "The Great American Race" came 17 years to the day of Earnhardt's fatal crash.
"Man, this place is awesome," said Dillon. "I don't know what it is about storylines and Daytona. This place just creates history and I'm proud to be a part of it and make some history here."
Dillon wasn't a factor in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet until the final lap in overtime when he got a push from Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr . that helped him get to leader Aric Almirola. Dillon spun Almirola then whizzed on by to give Childress, his grandfather, another iconic victory in the beloved No. 3.
"My grandfather has done everything for me and everybody knows it," Dillon said. "There's a lot of pressure on me to perform because I've had a little bit of everything. But I like that pressure, the same with the No. 3, there's a lot of pressure behind it, but I'm willing to take it and go with it."
As for the aggressive move that wrecked Almirola? Dillon was doing what has to be done to win at Daytona, where he led just once for one lap — the final one.
"I think I blacked out and just everything just kind of kept going, and we were staying in the gas, and things were happening fast. The last lap of the Daytona 500, you just don't lift, actually the last couple laps," Dillon said, adding his only other option was to ease off the gas and avoid Almirola.
"I guess I could have lifted and gave it to him," he said. "I guess that was my other option, give up a Daytona 500 ring that I'm wearing. If he needs to do it to (retaliate) at Talladega for everybody to feel good, I've got a Daytona 500 championship trophy, ring, whatever. I don't care. I've got the 3 back in victory lane at Daytona."
Almirola, in his debut race for Stewart-Haas Racing, was devastated.
"My heart is broken. I thought I was going to win the Daytona 500," Almirola said.