Earnhardt praises 'class act' Gordon

Gordon waved a flag with the legendary number 3 that Earnhardt raced to seven Cup titles during his victory lap at Phoenix International Raceway. Earnhardt Jr then went to congratulate him on victory lane, showing also his appreciation for the tribute.

"He's a class act - and I'm happy for him. I ran over to Victory Lane to shake his hand and let him know," Earnhardt Junior said.

"I know a lot of fans of my dad's aren't the biggest Jeff Gordon fans, but he and my dad were business partners on a lot of things and worked together a lot more than most people realize. I saw him with the flag on the big screen.

"That's cool - they must have had that thing around for a lot of races."

Gordon had been close to matching Earnhardt's tally of victories since last year, having last won a race at Chicagoland in July.

Gordon was Dale Earnhardt's main rival since he started winning races back in the Winston Cup era in the early 1990s, something that was not welcomed by many of the devoted Earnhardt fans.

For this reason, Gordon was worried about how would fans take his tribute at Phoenix.

"Junior come over to say he appreciated that and said that was a class act," Gordon said.  "That means the world to me, to have his blessings, because I didn't want it to come across the wrong way.

"We wanted to show tribute and honor and that was what we were able to do and it felt great."