“Something I’ll never forget”: When Dale Sr.’s grandson Jeffrey Earnhardt didn’t hold back his feelings about carrying forward the #3 Legacy

Jeffrey Earnhardt, the grandson of Dale Sr. landed the one-off opportunity to tame his grandfather's iconic #3 in the 2022 Talladega Xfinity Series race. The intimidator, a winner of seven NASCAR Cup Series championships, ran the majority of the races in his career in the #3 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, still revered by the fans.

Senior carved his name among NASCAR's legends and his successors have followed in his footsteps. His son Dale Jr. is a two-time Xfinity Series champion with over 50 NASCAR wins. Junior's half-brother Kerry also competed in NASCAR events but did not stick to the sport like the former.

Kerry's son Jeffrey also followed in his grandfather's footsteps. However, he has largely kept his NASCAR schedule part-time. The North Carolina native fielded a full-time Cup Series entry in 2017 but is mostly seen taming cars in the Xfinity and Truck Series.

In 2022, Jeffrey Earnhardt was running a part-time schedule for multiple teams. But for the Talladega race, he secured the opportunity to pilot his grandfather's iconic #3 on the Richard Childress Racing Chevy. It was a dream come true moment for the grandson and he didn't hold back from expressing his emotions about carrying Senior's legacy.

“What a dream come true. The chance to be behind the wheel of the No. 3 car for RCR, that my pawpaw made famous, has long been a dream of mine and now it’s finally happening...I also want to thank Mr. Childress for making this possible. The No. 3 car is cherished by a lot of people, and I know how much it means to him. To give me this opportunity is something I’ll never forget,” Jeffrey said via Autoweek.

It's worth mentioning that Dale Sr.'s grandson posted a runner-up finish in the #3 Chevrolet, his best-ever Xfinity Series result thus far.

A look inside Jeffrey Earnhardt's NASCAR career

Unlike his grandfather Dale Sr. and uncle Dale Jr., who had a stable ground in NASCAR; Jeffrey Earnhardt jumped teams. Senior made his career with Richard Childress, claiming 67 of his 76 wins and six of seven Cup titles in the #3 Chevy, while Junior's career was split between Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) and Hendrick Motorsports.

Jeffrey raced for seven Cup Series teams through five seasons, 13 Xfinity Series teams in seven seasons, and two Truck teams in three seasons. After a long-time struggle to ink a full-time deal, Senior's grandson got his first Xfinity break in 2014 for JD Motorsports.

However, Jeffrey took a break from Xfinity after the 2015 season and returned on a part-time schedule in 2019. In 2020, he rekindled with JD Motorsports for two full-time campaigns. The fourth-generation racer ran his penultimate full season with Alpha Prime Racing in 2023. He fielded part-time Xfinity and Truck entries for Sam Hunt Racing and MBM Motorsports, respectively, this past season.

Jeffrey Earnhardt made his most recent Xfinity appearance at the Phoenix Raceway and battled in the Truck Series at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.