The famed #3 car Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove to victory in this month’s Nationwide race at Daytona was added as a temporary display at the new NASCAR Hall of Fame on Wednesday. The Wrangler-sponsored yellow and blue Chevy, which honors his father, the late Dale Earnhardt Sr., will stay at the downtown Charlotte facility through Sept. 19. The car carries extra significance because Earnhardt, who didn’t attend the unveiling, has said he doesn’t plan to drive a #3 car again. The economics of JRM’s Nationwide team mean it will be a temporary display as the team searches for full-time sponsors and a permanent driver for 2011. After its stint at the Hall of Fame, the body of the car will be cut off and hung at JRM’s shop. The chassis will be reused in future races. “We’d like to take the whole car, but we’re a Nationwide team,” Kelley Earnhardt said. “That’s $150,000 sitting there that we can use somewhere. As long as we have the body we’ll be in good shape.”(Associated Press/ESPN)(7-15-2010)
