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Austin Dillon to run seven Nationwide races for Richard Childress Racing
By Jared Turner - SceneDaily Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Austin Dillon, a development driver for Richard Childress Racing, will attempt to race in seven NASCAR Nationwide Series events in 2009.
Rusty Jarrett
Getty Images for NASCAR
Austin Dillon, the 18-year-old grandson of NASCAR Sprint Cup team owner Richard Childress, said Tuesday that he will attempt to qualify for seven Nationwide Series races next season.
Dillon made two Nationwide starts in 2008, coming home 26th at Richmond and fourth at Memphis, in addition to a full season in NASCAR’s Camping World East Series.
The son of RCR Vice President of Competition Mike Dillon plans to run the entire Camping World East slate once again in 2009 in addition to the seven Nationwide races, which will preserve his rookie status in the series for 2010, when he hopes to run a full schedule.
“We had really good success last year at Memphis and at Richmond for the first race out,” Dillon said in a phone interview on Tuesday. “Fourth place in our second race really got us excited for next year. Seven races, it’s plenty of races to get some experience against those guys, and I’m looking forward to the following year.”
Dillon is uncertain which races he’ll run – he is still waiting on NASCAR approval to compete at the two superspeedways, Talladega and Daytona – but says Richmond and Iowa Speedway will likely be among them.
Dillon competed at Iowa, which is set to host its inaugural Nationwide race in 2009, last year in Camping World East, where he finished second in the points standings and earned rookie-of-the-year honors.
In 2009, Dillon expects to share seat time with another driver in the No. 21 Nationwide entry for RCR. That’s the number his father used when he last drove for the organization in 2001.
He’ll continue to run the No. 3 in Camping World East, a series that he considers pivotal to his growth as a driver.
“The double-file starts on the East series really make you have to be aggressive on the starts. I think that’s helped me a ton to get ready for the Nationwide,” Dillon said. “I mean you really have to be on your game on the restarts. Those guys go hard the very first five laps – that’s when most of your passing gets done now since the motors are so close. You just really have to be on your game on starts and restarts.”
Dillon isn’t sure which number he’ll run when makes the leap to full-time Nationwide competition.
He could see himself running the iconic No. 3 made famous by the late Dale Earnhardt, who won six of his seven Cup titles for RCR.
The number hasn’t been raced in one of NASCAR’s national series since Dale Earnhardt Jr. used it in a Nationwide outing for RCR at Charlotte in 2002.
“We’ll have to see,” Dillon said. “I’m fine with it. It’ll probably be up to my grandfather and what he believes. We’ll just have to see what’s going on.”
2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings
Driver Standings after the Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 6492 |
| 2 | Mark Martin | -108 |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | -169 |
| 4 | Kurt Busch | -211 |
| 5 | Tony Stewart | -285 |
| 6 | Juan Pablo Montoya | -289 |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | -321 |
| 8 | Denny Hamlin | -352 |
| 9 | Ryan Newman | -411 |
| 10 | Kasey Kahne | -476 |
| 11 | Carl Edwards | -520 |
| 12 | Brian Vickers | -666 |
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Comments
14 responses to "Austin Dillon to run seven Nationwide races for Richard Childress Racing ". Post a Comment.
beth emerson said:
Dec 17, 2008 at 2:00 PMListen the kid can run wherever I dont care. But if Childress is thinking about letting this kid drive the # 3 he is crazy. That # belongs to only one man Dale Sr. To put that # back on the track after Childress said the # would be retired would be a slap in the face of Dale Sr and all of us who loved him so much. I dont think the kid is that great anyway.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportHoward Englishman said:
Dec 17, 2008 at 2:54 PMAustin is a good kid and has plenty of potential. The #3 has never and will not be retired, if RC doesnt use it in Cup it will just go to another team. NASCAR says what happens to the numbers. The number was goin to be used RC said as long as it was a Earnhardt or someone in his family. Its a good fit for Austin and RC is bringin this kid up the right way. I cant wait. I love watchin him race.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportPat Draper said:
Dec 17, 2008 at 4:47 PMBeth you are wrong as usual and Howard you are right. The number 3 has to be used sooner or later and better it be used by RC than anyone else. It will be a long time i'm sure before that number will be in cup again, but could be used by Dillon in Nationwide series when he gets there full time. I'm glad to see Richard isn't in a hurry to put Dillon in one of the top to series yet. The more seat time he get in the other series the better he will be when the time comes for him to move up.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportWerner Boehmert said:
Dec 17, 2008 at 5:32 PMwhen Petty retired it was use it or lose the #43...now!!...i'm not understanding why NASCAR has let the #3 remain unused...unless it's because RCR, DEI and NASCAR are still profiting from it...
Report as Abusebtw...when my fave driver Alan Kulwicki passed away i didn't have a problem with the #7 going on...i think it's rather interesting to see the history of some of the car #'s and who had them...
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» Confirm Abuse ReportMary Lou Harms said:
Dec 17, 2008 at 5:48 PMI hope that the #3 is raced by either Childress's or Earnhardt's grandson. This would keep the number in the family. NASCAR does't retire any number. It's nice to read about the history of a number. Dale Earnhardt Jr. seems to like to research this like the history of #88
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» Confirm Abuse ReportMary Reeson said:
Dec 17, 2008 at 6:14 PMi see no problem with Austin driving the #3 as long as it is not black!
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» Confirm Abuse ReportWayne Powers said:
Dec 17, 2008 at 6:35 PMI've been told that at the beginning of each year, a team owner buys the numbers he wants, from Nascar. If this is the case, RC will probably buy it every year until something happens to him. The number 3 belongs to RC as far as I'm concerned. I really wanted Jr to take it when he went to Hendrick Motor Sports.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportHoward Englishman said:
Dec 17, 2008 at 6:52 PMThe numbers are leased from NASCAR and all the numbers 0-99 belong to someone they just dont use them all the time. As far as RCR, NASCAR has given RC alot of leadway with the #3, nobody would want it anyway and Dale Jr. does not want it and Jefferys future is not certain right now so it was RCs decision to bring it back in the future with Austin.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportMike B said:
Dec 17, 2008 at 8:15 PMAs a long time Dale Earnhardt and Jr. fan ,I think if Austin wants to run the # 3 in the Nationwide series is fine but if it is run in the Cup series,then it should be only Jr driving it.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportHoward Englishman said:
Dec 17, 2008 at 8:36 PMWell that wont happen, youll never see Dale in the #3
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» Confirm Abuse ReportTodd Priest said:
Dec 17, 2008 at 9:05 PMUm...newsflash.Childress has no input on retiring any number since he does not own it.NASCAR does not retire numbers.Dillon has been running the three for a few years.Dale has been dead for eight years.Time to move on.Good grief.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportAndrew Briscoe said:
Dec 17, 2008 at 10:05 PMThe thing with NASCAR numbers is that no numbers are retired. Ever. NASCAR has opted to not allow anyone to run the 3 since 2001 for whatever reason. If a team wants a number, they ask NASCAR for it, and if a team asks for a number in use, the team that uses it can choose whether they want it or not. Remember that no numbers are off-limits, it's just a general consensus in the garage that you don't try to steal another team's number. This is sorta what the Morgan-McClure teams were mad at when Stewart announced that Newman would drive the #4: that number was always synonymous with M-M. Tony could have been a jerk, but allowed M-M to keep the number, even though it's not in use. If Richard says that his grandson is going to run the #3 car in Cup, then he can do that. Just because a person died in the number in a terrible crash doesn't mean that the number will never be used. If a driver who was killed had his number retired, there would be a shortage of numbers today. I don't want to sound like a jerk, but I think that it's about time to move on from the Dale Earnhardt crash almost eight years ago. And for those people that think that the only person who will ever drive the 3 again is Dale Jr: I guess you people forget easily that he turned down driving for Childress BECAUSE his Daddy raced there and was so successful, and he didn't want to be using his dad's number. The #88 was his grandfather's number, but Ralph isn't the best known Earnhardt, so it's not like if Junior never wins a championship it will be seen as a disgrace to the number (as it would be for the #3, apparently).
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» Confirm Abuse ReportClayton Allen said:
Dec 17, 2008 at 11:41 PMThe reason the #3 has not been officialy retired is because it can't as per Nascar rules, the car number has to be driven a full/complete season prior to being retired and since Dale Sr. ran and died the daytona 500 that kept the car from being ran a complete season there for making it ineligable to be retired.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportbeth emerson said:
Dec 18, 2008 at 6:02 PM#12 and #13 thank you for explaining how this really works with the #s I appreciate it. As for you pat I have a right to my opinion as do you so for me keep your stupid opinion to yourself. Every time I leave a comment you have something smart to say. I will continue to say how I feel. I misunderstood about the # dont have a cow.
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