The number 3 has returned to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this year and in a big way. Sprint Cup rookie Austin Dillon, who drives the 3, won the pole for the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
Dillon, who drives for his grandfather Richard Childress, won the pole with a speed of 196.019 mph. Martin Truex Jr., driving for Furniture Row Racing, qualified second for the 500 with a speed of 195.852 mph. Sunday’s qualifying only set the front row for the Daytona 500. The rest of the field will be set in the Duel races on Thursday. 49 drivers are entered for the 500, which means six drivers will go home after the Duels on Thursday.
Dillon, who has won championships in the NASCAR Camping World Trucks and Nationwide Series, moves up to the Cup Series this year with lots of pressure. He drive the 3 car, which was made famous by Dale Earnhardt, a seven-time Cup champion, who died on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Although Dillon has raced the number 3 in the Trucks and Nationwide Series, the Daytona 500 will be the first time that the number 3 has raced in the Cup Series since Earnhardt’s death.
"It's almost like a storybook,” Childress told USA Today after Dillon won the pole. "You dream about things and you create things. But to actually bring it back, what better way to start it off?"
It’s the second year in a row that a rookie has won the pole for the Daytona 500. Last year Danica Patrick won the pole for the 500, becoming the first women to win the pole for the Great American Race. Patrick and Dillon are the first rookies to win the 500 pole since Loy Allen in 1994. However pole winners hardly win the 500. The last pole winner to win the 500 was Dale Jarrett in 2000, according to Fox Sports.
Dillon became the fourth driver to put the number 3 on the pole for the 500. Buddy Baker, Ricky Rudd, and Earnhardt are the other drivers to put the number 3 on the 500 pole, the Associate Press notes. Tony Stewart, Patrick, and Bobby Labonte will have to start at the rear of the 500 no matter where they qualify due to changing their engines. Dillon's pole was the sixth pole for Richard Childress Racing, which have came with different drivers.