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Famed No. 3 Visits NASCAR Hall of Fame after Daytona Victory Lane
No. 3 Wrangler Chevrolet Impala driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr. on exhibit through Sept. 19

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (July 14, 2010) – The NASCAR Hall of Fame, an expansive new interactive entertainment attraction in Charlotte, N.C., now is the temporary home of one of the most talked about race cars of 2010.

Beginning July 14, included with the price of admission, guests can get a close-up look at the No. 3 Wrangler Chevrolet Impala that Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove to victory in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race July 2, 2010 at Daytona International Speedway. The car carries the same design of the race cars Earnhardt Jr.’s father, Inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee Dale Earnhardt, made famous in the 1980s.

“Long before we ever raced the No. 3 car to honor my dad, I had already considered lending it to the NASCAR Hall of Fame regardless of how it finished, because the whole point of the program was to pay tribute to my dad’s induction into the Hall of Fame,” said Earnhardt Jr. “The fact we won with it makes it even more meaningful, and hopefully it will attract more people to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in the coming months while it’s on display. This No. 3 Wrangler Chevrolet put me back into Victory Lane, and it stirred up a lot of old memories for a lot of people. I was happy for my fans, my dad’s fans, my family, Richard (Childress), Teresa (Earnhardt) and everybody involved. It was definitely an honor to drive it.”

This No. 3 Wrangler Chevrolet Impala was built and prepared by JR Motorsports and entered in the Daytona race by legendary owner Richard Childress. The combination of Earnhardt Jr., Dale Earnhardt Inc. and RCR has a very brief yet shining history on the track. In only two races together, Earnhardt drove the No. 3 Chevrolet to victory on both occasions (February 2002 and July 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series races at Daytona International Speedway).

“There already was something special about this race car before it ever even took a lap around a racetrack,” said Winston Kelley, executive director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “It solidified its place in history, though, when Dale Jr. took it to Victory Lane in Daytona. Dale says he will not drive the No. 3 again, so this may be even more historic than we realize today. Epic stories deserve to be relived over and over, and it is our privilege to provide a venue for guests to get close to something so unique. We can’t thank Kelley and Dale enough for loaning us this car.”

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NOTE: THIS REVIEW AND VIDEO IS FROM OUR ADVERTISER “AMERICAN MUSCLE”

2011 Mustang GT: Prototype CAI & Dyno Tune Huge Power Gains!

Our 2011 5.0L Mustang GT, a Prototype CAI, and the Bama Custom Tuning Team

Within 24 hours of taking possession of our 2011, we turned our Bama Custom Tuning division loose on some exclusive prototypes for upgrades to see what performance gains they could squeeze out of the GT. With a custom tune developed on our dyno and an exclusive new CAI prototype from C&L Performance, we were able to feed our need for speed. Read more and watch the video at blog.americanmuscle.com/2011-mustang-gt-prototype-cai-dyno-tune-huge-power-gains/.

Here’s a summary of our chassis dyno testing:

Stock no modifications: 363RWHP / 331RWTQ
Factory tune, Prototype C&L cold air intake: 374RWHP / 338RWTQ
Bama Custom Tune, stock Airbox: 379RWHP / 357RWTQ
Bama Custom Tune, Prototype C&L cold air intake: 385RWHP / 362RWTQ
2011 Mustang GT 5.0L owners can expect a nice performance bump from just a tune alone. These numbers rival the high output of the SVT Performance group’s Supercharged 2003-2004 Cobra and various other high performance models from Ford’s Specialty Vehicles Team. Camaros and Challengers, watch out! With a Bama Tune installed, the new 5.0L has become the leader of the pack!

In addition to the rear wheel horsepower and torque gains, drivers will experience better throttle response, faster/firmer shifting, and an overall increase in driveability. These hot new calibrations are available immediately, exclusively from AmericanMuscle.com. Final production versions of the C&L cold air intake will be ready to purchase from AmericanMuscle before the end of summer, 2010. Stay tuned for more exclusive prototype test results and footage!

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By Charles Krall
Special to the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(July 11, 2010)

NEWTON, Iowa—Rookie Austin Dillon scored his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series win Sunday, dominating the Lucas Oil 200 at Iowa Speedway.

In his 12th truck start, Dillon, 20, led 187 of 205 laps and beat Johnny Sauter to the finish line by .635 seconds.

Dillon, grandson of owner Richard Childress, gave Richard Childress Racing its first truck series victory since Sauter’s brother Jay won at Texas in October 1999.

Dillon’s dominant run was nearly spoiled by Sauter, who was able to snatch the lead on a restart on Lap 150 after a caution for Jason White’s accident in Turn 3.

“I saw sparks coming from the 23 truck (White), and I knew there was about to be a caution, and I was trying to make those last few laps in about two seconds instead of 24 seconds because I knew that Sauter was going to be tough,” Dillon said.

Dillon was able to reclaim the lead on Lap 154, but there were two more late-race restarts—including one that pushed the race beyond the scheduled 200 laps—but Sauter was unable to mount a serious challenge.

Sauter thought he had a chance to reel in Dillon on the final restart but a stumble at the line when Dillon checked up caused him to get off the throttle and broke his momentum.

“(Sauter) had beat me on a restart earlier, so I mixed up my pickup point for the green just like I did when I was dirt racing,” Dillon said. “I had a little advice from Pop Pop (Childress) on the radio coming to the green, and the experience he has definitely helped.”

It allowed Dillon to cruise to victory in the final two laps.

“I anticipated the start a little, and I looked over and I didn’t see him so I had to jump off the gas,” Sauter said. “The rule is the second-place guy can’t beat the leader to the line and I didn’t want to risk a black flag so I had to get off the gas and we were just playing defense after that.”

Matt Crafton finished third, followed by Ken Schrader and James Buescher.

The top four drivers in the standings—Todd Bodine, Aric Almirola, Ron Hornaday and Timothy Peters—all experienced trouble.

Almirola crashed hard on Lap 75 to bring out the second caution. He finished 28th and dropped 88 points behind Bodine, who finished 17th, three laps back. Hornaday sustained major damage to the front of his truck and finished 34 laps back in 24th. Despite finishing the race with his hood missing, Hornaday swapped places in the standings with Peters, who finished 27th after losing his engine on Lap 104.

Notes: Dillon is the series’ second-youngest winning driver and third-youngest winner at age 20 years, 2 months, 37 days. Kyle Busch is the youngest, winning his first truck race at 20 years, 18 days. Busch won his second race nine days later. … There were seven cautions for 42 laps. … Dillon averaged 92.967 mph. … Dillon moved up four spots in the standings to seventh. … The next race is Friday night at Gateway International Raceway outside of St. Louis.