Dale Earnhardt’s Mom Never Wanted Another #3 Car At The NASCAR Cup Level, & She Was Told It Would Never Happen

Mama knows best.

Martha Earnhardt was the mother of Dale Earnhardt, and she passed away in December of 2021. From everything I’ve heard about her, she was a lovely lady who was truly the glue of the Earnhardt family, and she had a very special relationship with her legendary son.

She was one of, if not the only person, who pulled out the much softer side of Dale, and he had a huge amount of respect for her and loved her deeply. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had his grandmother on his Dale Jr. Download podcast before, and it was a great conversation and I highly recommend going back and listening to if it you’ve never heard it before… there’s some golden stories she tells that you absolutely have to hear for yourself.

We all know the tragic story behind the NASCAR legends death, as he was tragically killed on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, and NASCAR changed forever. The Intimidator managed to win an incredible 34 races at Daytona during his NASCAR career, including the 1998 Daytona 500. He was so good at these big tracks that it was always said that he could “see the air” moving around the cars, knowing exactly where to go to get the best aerodynamic advantage and move (or stay) up front.

When he died, Dale Sr. was racing for owner Richard Childress, who owned the #3 car and had a hand in marketing his driver as “The Intimidator,” and it was while driving for Childress that Dale got the black and red paint scheme and really stepped into his persona.

Now, it’s Childress’ grandson Austin Dillon that drives the #3 car full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, which he started doing in 2014. This point in time marked the return of the iconic number to the Cup Series, after it was retired following Earnhardt’s death. When her son passed, Martha was promised that the #3 car would never be on the track again, as a way to honor him and pay respects to the family.

It’s sort of similar to how football teams will retire the jersey of a legendary player so no one else can ever wear it again because they were that special, and obviously, Dale was more than deserving of that honor. But as time went on, things changed, and Dillon ended up driving a #3 car that looked basically identical to Dale Sr.’s in terms of the black and red color scheme, and obviously, the number on the car.

In an interview from around 2014, Martha sat down with the late broadcaster Steve Byrnes to talk about her feelings on Dillon driving that car at the sports top level, and understandably, she had mixed feelings. The #3 had already been featured at the lower level series like the Truck and now-Xfinity series, but Martha looked emotional as she explained how hard it was to know the #3 was coming back, and it wasn’t her son.

While it would’ve been hard regardless, obviously, seeing the car come back with a very, very similar paint scheme made it even more difficult:

“I have mixed feelings because I was told that I would never see another #3 on the race track after Dale died. I can understand it to a point that, I know it was Richard’s number when he drove, and this is grandson, and I understand that…

As long as they don’t make it look like the #3, if they paint it a different color, you know, I can sort of deal with it. But I don’t want to see the black #3 just like Dale’s. But that’s not my decision.”

When asked if she would’ve even wanted her grandson, Dale Jr. to drive that car, Martha wasn’t sure if she would’ve been able to accept that, either:

“I don’t know… I really don’t. It might of have been as hard as it would’ve been, to see him as it was to see, you know, somebody else.”

It’s clear just from watching her talk how difficult it still was for her to deal with, and I can only imagine how hard those years were for her following the loss of her son so tragically and suddenly.

She always came across as such a strong, yet sweet lady, and her grandchildren and children (Dale has also had his aunts and uncles on the podcast), always speak so highly of her.

Of course, the process for changing a NASCAR number on a car isn’t overly simple, nothing ever is, but teams can request specific numbers and NASCAR has the final say on which teams get which numbers, or when they can be changed. I have no insider knowledge, but my guess would be that if Childress wanted to switch out the #3 for a different number to honor the sports most iconic and famous driver, they certainly could’ve made it happen.

It just breaks my heart to know how sad Martha was over that, especially after she had been told differently for so many years, but knowing she’s at peace now and reunited with her son makes it a little bit easier to watch back.

If you’ve ever wondered why the #3 is still out on the track, that’s the more short and simple answer as to why… and if you’ve ever wondered how his family feels about it, especially his beloved mother, you can watch her speak about it here:

@alectheflexerofficial DALE EARNHARDTS MOM WAS TOLD THERE WOULD NEVER BE ANOTHER 3 ON THE TRACK! After her son was taken at Daytona #nascar #daleearnhardt #dalejr #marthaearnhardt Read More