Emotions run high as Dillon wins Daytona 500
Austin Dillon cherishes Earnhardt legacy
Twenty years after Dale Earnhardt won his only Daytona 500, the car number he made famous was back in Victory Lane at Daytona. Austin Dillon, above, took the No. 3 car to victory Sunday in the Daytona 500. Dillon, driving for his grandfather, Richard Childress, Earnhardt’s former car owner and longtime friend, brings Earnhardt back to life with the win, writes Mike Bianchi,
DAYTONA BEACH — The time stamp was etched in tears of joy and pain, a throwback number and the memory of a NASCAR icon and ties that bind forevermore.
Austin Dillon strolled into Daytona’s victory circle 20 years ago as a seven-year-old smitten by all the confetti and champagne and celebratory hugs to celebrate a man called Dale Earnhardt.
That champion was his grandfather’s best friend, and a man who drove granddaddy’s car really fast.
“I was just having fun collecting hats and crawling on the trophy,” Dillon said.
Two decades later, the world is celebrating the rise of Austin Dillon as a speed-racer and the winner of the 60th running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday afternoon.
The pain comes with the memory that Earnhardt died on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Dillon burned a “3” into the infield on his victory spin to honor a man who is family, and always will be.
“I know he’s smiling down on us in victory,” said Richard Chil-
dress, Dillon’s grandfather and Earnhardt’s car owner.
The victory will also include the controversial context of Dillon making a move on Aric Almirola on the last lap, getting to Almirola’s bumper and knocking him out of the way.
Dillon only led that last lap, but it was the only one that mattered. Darrell “Bubba” Wallace was second, followed by Denny Hamlin. Ryan Blaney led a race-high 118 laps but finished seventh.
“I guess I could have lifted and gave it to him,” Dillon said. “That was my other option. Give up the Daytona 500 ring that I’m wearing. I’m glad he’s not mad. If he needs to do it to me at Talladega to make people feel good, I have a Daytona 500 championship, trophy, ring, whatever.
“I got the 3 back in Victory Lane at Daytona. It feels pretty good.”
Not so much for Almirola, who handled the disappointment with a gentlemanly perspective.
“It was the last lap and we’re all trying to win the Daytona 500,” he said. “It’s the biggest race of the year and it’s a career-changing race, so we were just racing really aggressively.”
Dillon, 27, has traveled a demanding path since 2013 when, with the Earnhardt’s family blessings, he took on the No. 3 in the Cup series.
It was a long journey for the Childress and Earnhardt family. Childress was so despondent and devastated after Earnhardt’s death that he stood on the deck of Bill France Jr.’s yacht near Daytona Beach ready to walk away from the sport.
Then he recalled a hunting trip to New Mexico with Earnhardt in the 1980s, and Earnhardt’s cantankerous voice came to life.
They were climbing a mountain. Their horses were bridle-less. Dale’s horse started slipping and started rearing up, back toward Childress, who had no choice but to jump off the mountain. The horse went flying with him, but they were both fortunate they were caught in a cluster of trees.
They were laughing about it later that night over a few adult beverages. Earnhardt called it the “great horse wreck.” And then things got serious.
“You know, Dale, if I got killed on the mountain today you’d have to race Phoenix,” Childress said.
Earnhardt looked Childress in the eye and said: “If it ever happens to me, you’d better race.”
They have kept racing, Childress with his team and his grandsons, Austin and Ty. Dale Earnhardt Jr. kept racing until the end of the 2017 season when multiple concussions forced him to walk away before things got fuzzy permanently.
Dale Jr. came back Sunday as the Grand Marshal for the race, reflecting on his father’s death, saying that he has made his peace with Daytona. He chooses to embrace this place for all the good things that have happened here.
Childress said he fell in love with the place in 1965 when he came to Daytona and slept in a tent off Nova Road. The love was broken in 2001, ever so briefly, but it came back just as quickly.
There were magical sparks once again Sunday, with the ending scripted by a kid who made an aggressive move reminiscent of a NASCAR legend named Earnhardt.
“The Intimidator” would approve.