Childress running the #3 car

NASCAR fans often ask Richard Childress when he'll bring back the black #3 Chevrolet made famous by the late Dale Earnhardt. Fans who attended last Saturday's dirt-track races at 311 Speedway know the answer. And they know that Childress, who has said since Earnhardt's death that it would take a unique situation to bring back the best-known number in NASCAR, stayed true to his word. The driver he chose to run #3 is young and talented, clean-cut and polite and thinks the world of Childress. He's Childress' oldest grandson, Austin Dillon. Based on the way he drove in his first Super Late Model race, there may come a day when Dillon is behind the wheel of a similar-looking car in NASCAR. In his first try in dirt racing's elite division, Dillon qualified fifth from a field of more than 30, then drove like a veteran, broad-sliding through the corners, stepping on the accelerator to make the car turn and challenging the drivers in front of him on almost every lap. Childress watched from the top of the team hauler, just as he has done for decades during Nextel Cup races. Every pass brought a big smile to his face. "He's driving the heck out of it," Childress said. "He's doing good for a 16-year-old kid." Childress dotes on his grandsons, Austin and Ty, who is two years younger than Austin and beginning his own racing career. They are the sons of Mike Dillon, a long-time Busch Series driver, and Childress' daughter, Tina. More at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution