“If I had gotten killed; you would have had to race”: When Richard Childress pulled back the curtain on how Dale Sr. saved RCR

After Dale Earnhardt Sr. tragically passed away following the brutal Daytona 500 crash, Richard Childress was heartbroken and on the verge of shutting down his team, in which Dale Sr. won six Cup Series titles. However, a near-death experience with the Intimidator during their escapade in New Mexico gave Childress the strength to continue racing.

Dale Sr. joined Richard Childress' garage in 1984. Soon, the duo became a team to reckon with, claiming six titles and 67 victories. With that, the owner-driver became close friends.

On one fine day, they were on a hunting trip in New Mexico when Senior's horse was ahead of Childress'. However, the former's horse slipped on the ice, cascading into the latter falling off. Luckily, the trees caught both, saving them from a potential fall down the cliff.

The near-death experience instigated both to promise each other to race even if the other one died. A decade after Dale Sr.'s tragedy, Richard Childress reminisced about his hunting trip which kept RCR alive and well.

"We get up this thing and Dale's horse starts slipping on this big chunk of ice and starts rearing up and coming back on me. I had to come off the mountain, and when I jumped the horse flipped behind me. The trees caught us before we went real bad. Dale and I always call it the Great Horse Wreck," Childress recalled, via ESPN.

"We got back to camp that night, and naturally Dale blamed me for pulling his horse off the mountain, like I could physically. We were having a cocktail by the fireplace. I told him, 'You know, Dale, if I had gotten killed on that mountain today, you would have had to race Phoenix.' We looked at each other [and he said], 'If it ever happens to me, you better race,'" he added.

Not only did Childress keep RCR up and running, but he retained Dale Sr.'s iconic #3, currently used by the former's grandson, Austin Dillon.

"I want you to keep running this car": Dale Sr.'s message to Richard Childress that didn't let the latter retire #3

With Dale Sr.'s demise, Richard Childress was ready to surrender the legendary #3 machine. However, the seven-time Cup Series champion wanted his boss to retain the number and continue its legacy.

All car numbers are owned by NASCAR and are leased to teams on an annual fee basis. Even though Childress didn't use the number until his grandson's rookie season race at the 2014 Daytona 500, he furnished the yearly charges to keep Earnhardt's legacy within the doors of his Welcome, North Carolina-based outfit.

“Dale and I were sitting there talking about his retirement and what he was gonna do. He told me, ‘I want you to keep running this car. I want you to keep running the three, and I want you to be able to win races and win championships.’ There was no option to retire it, so it needed to stay in the family," Childress said via Autoweek.

It's worth mentioning that Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove his father's #3 RCR Chevy three times -at the 2002 Daytona 300, 2002 BetMGM 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and the 2010 Wawa 250 at the Daytona International Speedway.