When Richard Childress Racing announced that the Black #3 Chevrolet would again be driven by an Earnhardt at Talladega, fans began clamoring to see it's driver, Jeffrey Earnhardt, have an opportunity to bring it to victory lane.
To help in the cause, Childress brought back long time crew chief, Larry McReynolds, to wrench the car and pull out all of his knowledge and tricks to push the car a little more.
So far, things appear to be paying off as Earnhardt won the pole on Friday for Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series Ag-Pro 300 At Talladega Superspeedway.
Entering Friday, it had not been since October of 2000 that the iconic black No. 3 Chevrolet, driven by an Earnhardt, had won anything at Talladega Superspeedway. Jeffrey Earnhardt changed that entirely and contributed something of his own to his family's racing legacy in Talladega.
"This is unbelievable, man. This has been a dream of mine for years to get this opportunity," Earnhardt told Fox Sports. "Everything's just fallen into place. The good Lord's taken care of us. All the guys at RCR, this is more them than it is me. All I've got to do is hold a pretty wheel and they prove time and time again to bring fast cars here to the superspeedways.
"Not a bad starting spot. We're gonna try and keep her there all race and hopefully put this thing in Victory Lane."
Earnhardt will seek to improve his career-best finish of third, which came at Charlotte in 2019 driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. Earnhardt has made four Xfinity Series starts this season with a pair of top-15 finishes at Daytona and Atlanta.
Dustin Long at NBC Sports shares his view:
Jim Utter's take:
Terrin Waack / NASCAR.com