No. 3 lives on in NASCAR hearts, on track

Understand this: In sports, it's never just a number.

High school recruits make college decisions based on it. Professional athletes pay teammates thousands of dollars over it. Cricket players in India must consult numerologists so that the choice vibrates with the athlete's personal energies.

Does that mean LeBron James should now wear No. 666?

Some numbers pass through generations like recipes or heirlooms. Babe Ruth gets the nod as the most famous No. 3, although he wore it for just six years once the Yankees began displaying uniform numbers.

The guy in the black race car drove it for two decades before that fatal crash at the Daytona 500.

"I take pride in running the number," Austin Dillon said. "He did things no one will ever accomplish. There will never be anyone like him again. And I know the fans like it. I know it brings back all sorts of memories for them."

Dillon is the grandson of car owner Richard Childress and will run a black No. 3 in the Smith's 350 Camping World Truck Series Race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday.

He will run the number made famous by the late Dale Earnhardt.

There is a belief that current NASCAR owners have agreed to never again run the No. 3 in the Sprint Cup Series, that the sport's highest division should always pay respect to the man who won seven championships and made the number and its logo one of the most recognized in racing history.

You get the feeling young Dillon -- all of 20 years old and filled to the carburetor with potential -- also knows his time running the number won't last.

"You know, Cup is a much different level and I think my opinion will change on it when I get there," he said. "I love running it now. I would be fine running it at the Nationwide level. But past that, my grandfather would make that decision."

Songs have been written and television shows made about the number. Woody Harrelson honored it in the movie "Zombieland." Dale Earnhardt Jr. has run it a few times since his father's death in 2001.

But it didn't really return to a national touring series until Dillon debuted in trucks last September, and with it fans responded as one might welcoming home a war hero.

This is the best part about NASCAR. Not the drivers bickering with one another for television face time or some contrived playoff system.

The history.

The fact someone as young as Dillon, born into the family business and raised on the scent of fumes and smoked sausage, owns such a deep and profound admiration for those who delivered the sport to the incredibly popular heights of today.

Dillon's grandfather ran the number during his NASCAR driving career and his father in a Winston West race years ago. Austin has now directed it to sixth in points this season with a victory included among his six top-five finishes as a rookie in trucks.

He appears to be the next in what seems an endless line of young NASCAR talents, a communications major at High Point (N.C.) University who won in trucks for the first time in July at Iowa Speedway.

More and more, the rise of drivers happen at speeds higher than those at Texas Motor Speedway. It's as if there is some unwritten NASCAR rule now that one must at least break the 180-mph barrier before needing a first shave.

"I climbed into a Bandolero at age 15 and knew from that minute it was what I wanted to do," Dillon said. "NASCAR has become no different than high school basketball players going straight to the NBA or baseball players going right to professional ball. Guys are just starting to race younger and younger now.

"I love every part about it. The racing side, the business side, the marketing side, the communications side. So many things have to go right for you to have success, but when everything comes together and works on the same day there is no better feeling than winning a race."

Owners don't own the rights to a number. Childress, though, has priority over the 3. It's such a small digit in most every way.

In NASCAR, it's bigger than life. It's sacred.

"I've heard all the stories," Dillon said. "I know what it means to my family. I've seen how the fans react to it. It's a privilege to drive it."

In sports, it's never just a number.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618.