Model 3

Make
Tesla
Segment
Sedan

America's Nascar Sprint Cup racing series only finally made the switch from carburetors to fuel injection in 2012.

We thought you might want to have that thought in the back of your mind while we tell you that a Nascar fan in Charlotte, North Carolina has put together a themed Tesla Model 3 as a tribute to the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. What's even more surprising: he managed to pay for the Model 3 and its many aesthetic modifications using sponsor money, effectively getting the brand-new electric sedan for free.

The Tesla's owner - one Dylan Sinnott, who holds degrees in both Marketing and Computer Science - recently shared with Jalopnik just how he managed to pull off such a stunt.

Sinnott, 27, says his girlfriend was talking about the Tesla Model 3 one evening when he reflexively joked "three for Dale?" And thus, the idea was born.

"Three for Dale," which refers to the late Dale Sr.'s race car number, has become a popular internet meme among fans. The irony that the Tesla Model 3 is in many ways the antithesis of Nascar - a race sanctioning body defined by big, loud, thirsty V8s - is not lost on Sinnott. "[W]hen I think of Tesla, I think they're the exact opposite of being 'Intimidating,' which is kind of funny," he told Jalopnik.

"But when I mocked it up it looked cool. I think it's something Nascar would find cool, and that Tesla would find cool."

So, Sinnott went about the hard work of approximating what it would cost to build such a car, including the purchase price of a Model 3 Performance, vinyl wrap, ceramic coating, window tint - the works. He eventually landed on an estimate of $73,590, and started the even more difficult process of working out how much sponsorship would be needed to cover the costs. He sold space on the car's vinyl wrap to interested sponsors, and worked with Tesla to have a Model 3 "stealth" Performance rush delivered before the end of the year.

In the end, Tesla sold Sinnott the car at around $10 to $15 thousand less than it should have been, and some sponsors overpaid, affording the IT professional some extra space on the livery to play around and more closely match the layout of Dale Sr.'s sponsor logos. The result is unique, unexpected, and strangely cool. Sinnott says his hope is that the car inspires others to get creative with their project cars because sponsors are often willing to help.