Dale Earnhardt’s longtime team, Richard Childress Racing, will honor the late seven-time Cup Series champion with a pair of throwback paint schemes for the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in September.
Richard Childress Racing to honor Dale Earnhardt with 2 throwback paint schemes
Austin Dillon and Ryan Newman will have special paint schemes in the Southern 500 that pay tribute to Dale Earnhardt’s 1987 win in that race.
The schemes on Austin Dillon’s No. 3 and Ryan Newman’s No. 31 cars mirror the yellow and blue design Earnhardt had on his car when he won the 1987 Southern 500. The win was Earnhardt’s first in what is regarded as one of the sport’s crown jewel races held on a track that is NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway.
“That car and scheme is legendary,” Dillon said. “It’s not just cool, but successful.”
Earnhardt won six of his record-tying seven championships driving for the team owned by Richard Childress, Dillon’s grandfather, and is regarded as one of NASCAR’s most iconic drivers. He made 11 starts with RCR in 1981 then switched to a different team for the next two years, before returning to RCR in 1984.
Earnhardt drove the remainder of his career with RCR. The 49-year-old was killed when he crashed on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
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