Dillon to drive the #3

Austin Dillon has had a big week. First it was the announcement that he is moving up to the NASCAR Nationwide Series next year. Then he drove his #3 Bass Pro Shops Silverado to victory lane in last night’s Camping World Truck Series race, beating Cup drivers Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. The win put Dillon back into the championship hunt, now just 3 points behind James Buescher.

But the Nationwide Series announced caused a bit of a blowback from some hard core fans. Team owner (and grandfather) Richard Childress has decided that Dillon will once again run his familiar #3 when he makes his fulltime debut in the Nationwide Series next year. The same #3 that was driven by Dale Earnhardt and hasn’t been used in the Sprint Cup or Nationwide Series’ since, other than Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Does another driver belong behind the wheel of the #3?

Personally, I think that Dale Earnhardt would get that trademark grin when he sees Austin Dillon hit victory lane in that #3. A young, talented driver who is also related to Childress is exactly the type of driver that I think Earnhardt would have enjoyed driving the #3 after him. Someone capable of carrying on the winning tradition behind the #3 and RCR.

And Austin has proven himself capable of being that driver. In his 45 career races in the Camping World Truck Series, Dillon has 11 poles and 4 wins. He also has three top-10s in 4 starts behind the wheel of Kevin Harvick Inc.’s #33 Nationwide car. The same team that will build his cars next year as part of the recent KHI/RCR merger announcement. By the end of this year, he might even be a championship driver.

If we were looking at a driver who hadn’t done anything and was traditionally a back marker, then I might have more problems with it. However, with the talent and relationship that Austin Dillon has with Childress, I think Earnhardt would be completely behind the idea and very proud to have a driver like that want to drive his number.

Bowyer assessing his options

Clint Bowyer is busy assessing his 2012 options. Following a Richard Childress press conference last weekend where Childress seemed to indicate that Bowyer was not returning to RCR for the ninth season.

“You know we’ve tried and we’ve worked really hard to put the deal together to keep Clint. It’s not 100% off the table, but it’s getting tougher and tougher as the day goes by. Clint’s got a couple of really good opportunities there facing him. For us, it just didn’t seem that we could get everything worked out. Clint’s a good friend. I want the best for him. I feel like that we’ve done a lot together, and I hope that if we can’t put him in a car next year that he gets a ride that he’s really good and happy with,” said Childress last weekend in Richmond.

Rumors has it that General Mills is leaving RCR and that Bowyer had found sponsorship for himself, but they had not sold the entire season. As a result, Bowyer was going to be forced to take a pay cut to remain at the team where he’s won 4 Sprint Cup races and made three Chase appearances in the last five seasons.

It appears that Bowyer is assessing his options for next season. Apparently he has a $10-12 million commitment from 5 Hour Energy to sponsor him next season. He has been seen touring Michael Waltrip Racing and Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. There is also the rumor that Bowyer has been in touch with Roush Fenway Racing about the #6 Ford that is currently driven by David Ragan.

Ideally, the Roush Fenway move might make the most sense for Bowyer and everyone involved. David Ragan would likely move over to Richard Petty Motorsports in 2012 where UPS’ sponsorship dollars would likely go further and Ragan’s expectations would be reduced. In the meantime, Roush Fenway Racing has said that they have been negotiating with a handful of new sponsors and perhaps Bowyer’s money from 5 Hour Energy would enable them to full sponsor the #6 car.

Anyway, we will watch this and see what happens. A move to Roush would seem to be the only lateral move he could make from an “A” team to another “A” team. Why you’d willingly give up your seat with one of the top teams in the series to go to a “B” team like Michael Waltrip Racing or Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, albeit occasionally good “B” teams, would boggle my mind.