Jeffrey Earnhardt set to race at Talladega in legendary No. 3 car

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - The grandson of Dale Earnhardt Sr., and nephew of Dale Earnhardt Jr., will fire up his engine this weekend for a race around the Talladega Superspeedway.

Jeffrey Earnhardt Jr., sat down for a chat with WSFA 12 News Sports Director Rosie Langello Wednesday to talk about the upcoming experience.

Earnhardt is driving the legendary No. 3 car in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at TSS for Richard Childress Racing. It was RCR that gave his grandfather his last career win at TSS in 2000.

Jeffrey talked about the opportunity this weekend presents, saying it would be “huge” to win the race, “especially being the last place that my grandpa won at, in 2000, and how he won it, coming from like 18th, to leading in a handful of laps and winning the race is pretty incredible.”

A win wouldn’t be great just for Earnhardt. He thinks his fans “would probably lose their minds.”

Earnhardt says he has great teammates to make everything possible. He also has Birmingham native Larry McReynolds as his crew chief, the same crew chief his grandfather won the Daytona 500 with in 1998.

Having McReynolds on his team helps relieve some of the pressure a race can bring, Earnhardt confirmed.

“He’s very excited,” Earnhardt said, noting that McReynolds thanked him for the opportunity and said he could call him anytime, day or night if he was needed . Earnhardt said he’s just as thankful to have McReynolds along for the ride.

The Geico 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway starts at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

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