A visit to Atlanta is always special for Chase Elliott. It’s his home race, the one he circles on the calendar long before the season begins, and this weekend marked NASCAR’s second visit to EchoPark Speedway in 2026. It’s also a track where both he and his legendary father, Bill Elliott, have found Victory Lane. Ahead of the Quaker State 400, Elliott sat down with Dale Earnhardt Jr. for a conversation that turned to growing up under famous fathers. During that discussion, it became clear that while Elliott embraced his father’s legacy, it was something Earnhardt Jr. never felt he could do.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. explains why he never wanted the No. 3

“Me and you both share the fortune and unfortune of ending that shadow and the pressure that comes with it. You put the number nine on the side of your car. I would have never gone after trying to be the three; I would have been terrified to, like, put myself in that position,” said Earnhardt Jr. to Elliott in the TNT Sports Segment.

Both drivers grew up carrying some of the biggest last names NASCAR has ever seen. But while Elliott chose to carry on his father’s iconic No. 9, Dale Jr. admitted he never could have imagined doing the same with “The Intimidator” Dale Earnhardt’s legendary No. 3.

Elliott has spent his entire Cup Series career driving the No. 9 Chevrolet, the same number that became synonymous with Bill Elliott’s Hall of Fame career. Bill won 38 Cup Series races behind the wheel of the No. 9, including the 1988 championship. Chase has continued that legacy, earning 23 Cup victories in the No. 9 and capturing the 2020 Cup Series title. Rather than viewing the number as a burden, he has always described it as a source of pride and a way to carry his family’s racing history forward.

“I’m sure we look at some of those things differently. But for me, I was never trying to equal him with that or anything. That was my favorite number. Was it my favorite number because of him, and that was all I knew growing up? And I saw nines everywhere? Yes, obviously. But I looked at it as pure pride of an opportunity to carry that forward, and hope that you can be half as good as the run that they had,” Eliott admitted.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., meanwhile, chose a very different path. He won two Busch Series championships (now the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series) driving the No. 3 for Dale Earnhardt Inc. in 1998 and 1999. But at NASCAR’s premier level, he never chose that number.

During the first half of his Cup Series career, Dale Jr. built his name driving the famous No. 8 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt Inc. After moving to Hendrick Motorsports in 2008, he spent the remainder of his full-time career behind the wheel of the No. 88. The No. 3 was never part of the plan, and there was a practical reason for that as well.

In NASCAR, car numbers belong to team owners. Not drivers. Richard Childress owned the No. 3, making it his decision whether the number would return to full-time competition. But for Dale Earnhardt Jr., the decision went much deeper than ownership.

He has repeatedly said that the iconic black-and-red No. 3 was “my daddy’s number.” To him, it represented Dale Earnhardt’s legacy, and he never felt it was his place to step into the shoes of one of the greatest drivers the sport has ever seen. Dale Sr. won six of his seven Cup Series championships and 67 races driving the No. 3. Rather than trying to add to that legacy, Dale Earnhardt Jr. wanted to build one of his own.

The No. 8 became his identity, producing 17 Cup Series victories. Later, the No. 88 at Hendrick Motorsports defined the second chapter of his career, where he added another nine wins. Together, those two numbers allowed him to build a career he could look back on with pride, not as another Dale Earnhardt, but as Dale Earnhardt Jr.

There was one night, though, when Dale Earnhardt Jr. got back behind the wheel of the No. 3. It wasn’t to make it his own, but to pay tribute to his father.

The one time Dale Earnhardt Jr. returned to the No. 3

For one unforgettable night in 2010, Dale Earnhardt Jr. finally climbed into the No. 3. It happened at the Subway Jalapeño 250 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, where he drove the iconic yellow-and-blue Wrangler Chevrolet that Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Richard Childress made famous during the early years of their partnership. Together, they won the 1986 and 1987 Cup Series championships in that car.

The one-off appearance in Daytona served as a tribute ahead of his father’s induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. And boy, did Dale Jr. make the moment count. He qualified third, stayed near the front throughout the race, and took control late, leading the final 33 laps before beating Joey Logano, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Ryan Newman, Brian Ickler, and Steve Arpin to Victory Lane.

For some fans, it might have felt like the beginning of something bigger. But It wasn’t. After the race, Earnhardt Jr. ended the speculation of him picking up the No. 3 again, once and for all.

“I’ll never do it [again]. I’ll never rethink it. I’ll never consider it,” he admitted.

Years later, when Richard Childress Racing announced the famous No. 3 would return to the NASCAR Cup Series with Austin Dillon behind the wheel, Dale Earnhardt Jr. didn’t object in the slightest. Instead, he fully supported the decision.

“(Dillon) came up through the ranks, and he drove the No. 3 in dirt racing, and he drove the No. 3 in his Truck Series and Nationwide Series. He has earned the right to run that number as long as he wants.”

He believed Richard Childress, who owned the number all along, had every right to choose who carried it into the future. That single Daytona victory remains a special exception. It’s simply a tribute rather than a new beginning.