Kevin Harvick held up three fingers in honor of Dale Earnhardt after winning Sunday's Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Harvick somberly made the same salute nearly 17 years ago after he won at the same track with Earnhardt's team just three weeks after Senior's passing in the 2001 Daytona 500.

On March 11, 2001 racing in the white No. 29 GM Goodwrench, Harvick wheeled Richard Childress' car to victory lane by beating Jeff Gordon in one of the closest margins in NASCAR history (0.006 seconds). 

Harvick was overcome with emotion that day and was seen on Fox Sports' cameras wiping away tears Sunday as he grabbed the checkered flag. 

"That was the first win in my career and to be able to do that and pay tribute to Dale was pretty cool," Harvick said in victory lane Sunday. "I’ve been waiting a long time to do that. We’ve had so many days where we could do that here, but I just want to thank everybody."

Harvick added Sunday: "There are so many demons that seem to haunt us here for a long time, but the coolest part was being able to try to replicate that first win celebration.”