Dale Earnhardt Jr. has never raced in the Indianapolis 500, but his No. 88 will be making an appearance at the Greatest Spactacle in Racing on May 29.
Harding Racing’s Gabby Chaves, revealed Monday that the car he’ll be piloting in the Indy 500 will have a special feature that’s a nod to Dale Jr. The 23-year-old drives the No. 88 Chevrolet for Harding in the Verizon IndyCar Series, and for the 500, the number on his car will be styled to resemble the one on Earnhardt’s Chevrolet SS.
The cool gesture was well-received by the soon-to-be retired Earnhardt.
Although the car’s paint scheme is somewhat similar to the No. 88 Nationwide, the white and blue colors are meant to match the logo for Harding’s asphalt and concrete contractor business, Harding Group, according to Yahoo!.
Since announcing his retirement, Earnhardt has received an outpouring of support from all corners of the racing world. Whether drivers in other circuits choose to honor Earnhardt as Chaves did remains to be seen, but as we’ve seen throughout history, drivers in the racing community love to take care of their own.
