Catchfence

On Friday evening, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will slide through the window and into the seat of the No. 3 Wrangler Chevrolet for 300 miles of Nationwide Series racing at Daytona International Speedway.

Until that moment, he cannot know how that car number on his door, and that blue and yellow paint before him on the hood, and memories of his father’s win-at-all-costs attitude while driving them may affect him. Especially at that track.

But he is fairly certain about one thing: July 2, 2010 will be the last time he drives a race car with the No. 3 on the door.

“I just want to go to the racetrack and run it once before I retire, and this will probably be it,” he said. “After this, I’ll probably never drive a car with a 3 on it again. I can pretty much say I’m 99 percent sure that will never happen again.”

- ESPN.com