DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- With the famed No. 3 on his car and memories of the late Dale Earnhardt fresh in his mind, Austin Dillon took the fabled number out of hibernation and straight to the top at Daytona. Dillon reawakened the days of The Intimidator and proved he can handle the spotlight thrust on his ride in the 3, winning the pole Sunday for the season-opening Daytona 500. He took the top spot with a lap at 196.019 mph in NASCARs season opener in a car Richard Childress has refused to field at NASCARs top level since Earnhardts fatal accident on the last lap of the 2001 race. But with his 23-year-old grandson ready to move to the Sprint Cup Series, Childress allowed Dillon to use the number widely associated with the seven-time champion. Earnhardt won 67 races, six championships and the 1998 Daytona 500 driving the No. 3. Dillon was a kid when he posed for a picture with Earnhardt in Victory Lane following his breakthough 1998 win. Hell have many more memories from this milestone, like the congratulatory handshake he received from Richard Petty when qualifying ended. NASCARs family roots run deep, so Childress never had to leave the family tree to find the right driver for the number. Dillon has been using it in NASCAR national competition since 2009, when he made his Truck Series debut in the No. 3. He won the Truck championship in 2011 driving the No. 3 for Richard Childress Racing, and the Nationwide title last season in the same number. So Childress knew -- he always knew and has insisted that Earnhardt gave his blessing long before his death -- that Dillon could use the number if he ever made it to Cup. Dillon doesnt take the responsibility lightly. "Everybody wants to see this number perform well, and thats what my goals are," Dillon said. "I love getting in that race car and driving it. I think once we get through some of these races here at the beginning of the year, everything will sink in and Ill get comfortable and be able to have some fun." Its the fourth time the No. 3 has won the pole for the Daytona 500. Buddy Baker did it in 1969, Ricky Rudd in 1983 and Earnhardt in 1996. Martin Truex Jr., driving a Chevrolet for Furniture Row Racing, qualified second with a lap at 195.852 mph. Truexs engine is built by Earnhardt-Childress Racing, giving the company a sweep of the Daytona 500 front row. "Obviously, without that thing under the hood, we wouldnt be where we are," said Truex, who won the Daytona 500 pole in 2009 with an ECR engine when he drove for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. The rest of the field is set Thursday through a pair of qualifying races, but Childress and the ECR engines are strong: They had five cars in the top 12 on Sunday. Childress knew he had a shot at the pole, if not with Dillon then from another one of his four Richard Childress Racing entries. All were fast in January testing, and again in two Saturday practice sessions. But it was Hendrick Motorsports driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., the first driver to make his qualifying attempt, who set the pace early and held down the provisional pole for most of the session. RCR drivers Brian Scott and Paul Menard failed to bump Earnhardt, and it was surprisingly Ford driver Greg Biffle who finally did it as the 33rd driver to take his turn. Ryan Newman then took his shot for RCR and missed, and Dillon was the next driver out. He shot to the top of the board and his grandfather pumped his fist in celebration. He then nervously watched as the final 10 drivers made their runs, and gave another fist-pump in celebration. "We wanted to come down here and put on a good show with the 3, and to have another ECR engine with Furniture Row on the front row, we couldnt be more proud," Childress said. So could he finally relax? "The pressure is always on when youve got grandsons racing for you," said Childress, who thanked all the sponsors who "believed in this young kid, who took a chance on him." Wholesale NFL Jerseys China . -- The anointed starting quarterback for the Oakland Raiders is strengthening his hold on the position this training camp instead of losing it. Cheap NBA Jerseys . Beanballs were the theme Friday night as the Red Sox and Rays had another AL East rumble, with Boston earning a 3-2 victory on A. http://www.cheapnfljerseysall.us.com/. Now he can be had by any team willing to pay his salary. According to a report from ESPN, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are shopping the veteran CB and plan on releasing him Wednesday if they cant find a trade partner. Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys .C. -- Jackson Whistle made 26 saves for his first shutout of the season as the Kelowna Rockets blanked the visiting Lethbridge Hurricanes 5-0 on Saturday in Western Hockey League action. Cheap Stitched Jerseys . Fellow Argentina forward Gonzalo Higuain also had a brace for Napoli. And Samuel Etoo scored for his fourth different team. On a night of standout individual performances Wednesday, Schalke goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand had a game hell want to forget.BEIJING -- Former NBA star Dennis Rodman said Tuesday he was going on his second North Korea trip this year to have what he calls a friendly visit with the countrys authoritarian leader, Kim Jong Un. The trip by the flamboyant basketballer comes days after North Korea rejected a visit by a U.S. envoy who had hoped to bring home an American missionary jailed there, Kenneth Bae. Speaking to reporters at the Beijing airport before leaving for Pyongyang, Rodman declined to say whether he would seek Baes release. "Im not going to talk about that," he said. "I just want to meet my friend Kim, the marshal, and start a basketball league over there," Rodman said. "I have not been promised anything. I am just going there as a friendly gesture." Bae was arrested in November and sentenced to 15 years of hard labour for what Pyongyang described as hostile acts against the state. Rodman once asked on his Twitter account for Kim to "do me a solid" and release Bae. Kim has the power to grant special pardons under the Norths constitution. Rodman first met Kim -- a die-hard basketball fan -- during a visit in February to promote the sport and make a film. U.S. officials frowned on the trip for giving the young leader a propaganda boost. In the weeks that followed, after U.N. sanctions imposed in early March over Pyongyangs February nuclear test, North Korea threatened Washington and Seoul with nuclear and missile strikes and shut down an inter-Korean factory in the North. Rodman, however, suggested "basketball diplomacy" could warm relations and said that Kim wanted President Barack Obbama to pick up the phone and call him.ddddddddddddHe has called Kim an "awesome guy." Rodmans trip comes as the rival Koreas pursue diplomacy meant to restart several co-operative projects that were scrapped as tensions rose in recent years, including the jointly run factory complex in the North Korean border city of Kaesong. While there is skepticism about Pyongyangs intentions, the warming ties have been welcomed in Seoul. Outside analysts have said Pyongyang is likely using Bae as bait to win diplomatic concessions in a standoff over its nuclear weapons program. North Korea denies this. Pyongyang accuses Bae of trying to establish an anti-Pyongyang base in the North. Friends say Bae was based in a Chinese border city and travelled frequently to North Korea both as a tour operator and to feed orphans. At least five other Americans have been detained in North Korea since 2009. The others were eventually allowed to leave without serving out their terms, some after clemency missions by prominent Americans, including former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Just this past weekend, a planned trip by Robert King, the U.S. envoy for North Korean human rights, fell through after Pyongyang said it couldnt forgive the inclusion of U.S. nuclear capable bombers in recently concluded U.S.-South Korean military drills. Talks aimed at getting the North to give up whats estimated to be a small cache of nuclear devices, and involving the Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia, collapsed in early 2009. Pyongyang says its weapons are intended to protect itself from a hostile Washington. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '