The coincidence, or the weird, or the ironic…

Not sure which…

Daytona and the opening of NASCAR offered a generous and exciting start to the season but it also raised the spirit of the modern sport itself.

It’s all a bit spooky…

Consider the recap. Richard Childress brings the #3 back to Cup with driver and grandson Austin Dillon. Dillon has done the number proud with the trucks and a championship in the Nationwide series.

Dillon qualifies with the #3 on the pole for the Daytona 500. The first return of the #3 to Cup since the tragic loss of Dale Earnhardt (the man that made the number an icon) and it is leading the pack for the start of the new NASCAR season.

Fast forward to the finish. Dillon, rookie season open, finishes in the top 10 as the new “3” crosses the checkers in 9th. Tie that to the pole start and you get a valiant return of the famed number to the series that kept it sacred. Is it the number? Is it the spirit of racing taking a charge from having the number back in the ranks? Or… Is it the spirit of the man that built the number into the very fabric of the sport itself?

Well… There is more. Not only did the number “3” earn the start from the pole and make the top 10 for a big return to the “Sprint Cup” series, but the son of the man that made the legacy of the number brought the name to the winner’s circle of the Daytona 500. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. brought his slanted double “8”s over the checkers with the first points win of the 2014 season.

Spooky, isn’t it? Consider all the variables of racing and it’s hard to not, even as just a whisp of a thought, give a moment to the notion that somehow the spirit of Dale Earnhardt himself was present in Dillon’s drive to the pole and Junior’s drive to the win. Even on the level of reality it is spooky…

It is also, quite possibly, the biggest kickstart to a new season in a long time. The return to Daytona for the season opener has, since the tragedy of his loss, brought some mention of reverence to the memory of Dale Earnhardt. This season those conversations were enhanced with the return of the number “3” and Dillon’s run to qualify it on the pole. The exit of Daytona and the week leading to Phoenix were charged with the name of “Earnhardt” following Junior’s win.

It’s a season of new beginnings. Denny Hamlin, injured early in the 2013 season and could never really regain momentum, came into “Speed Weeks” at Daytona with a win in the “Sprint Unlimited” and a win in one of the Bud Duels. Tony Stewart is back after his 2013 season ending leg injury from a flipping, dirt track sprint car. With him at Stewart-Haas is Danica Patrick and new team mates Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch. Stewarts’ previous team mate, Ryan Newman, is in the “31” with Richard Childress and Austin Dillon. The “78” now has Martin Trues, Jr. filling the seat vacated by Kurt Busch.  A.J. Allmendinger is back and in the “47”…

The season of beginnings has begun. The “3” is back. The name of Earnhardt has another win.

The rest is racing.