NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — Mike Skinner will see a little bit of his own history flash before his eyes when he races at the Iowa Speedway on Saturday night.

Skinner won the first NASCAR Truck Series championship in 1995 driving the No. 3 Chevrolet Silverado for Richard Childress Racing. Childress’ grandson, Austin Dillon, will bring that number back in the Lucas Oil 200, the first Camping World Truck Series race at the .875-mile Newton track.

Dale Earnhardt made the black No. 3 famous while winning six Sprint Cup Series championships for Childress Racing, but that number hasn’t been driven in a truck race since 1999.

“Richard Childress and I are still great friends today,” said Skinner, who now drives the No. 5 Toyota. “I would have been terribly upset if he had just gone out and got a driver and stuck him in that truck and showed back up with it.

“But Austin, I’ve watched him grow up and he’s just done a fantastic job. I’m a big fan of his. I think it’s just perfect that it’s done this way.”

Dillon, 19, was the Camping World East Series rookie of the year in 2008. Saturday night will be his debut in the top Truck Series.

He said the decision to bring back the No. 3 truck evolved from his success last year.

“We thought about it, we had the number,” he said. “We just thought it would be a good opportunity to go out and run it and debut it again.”

Dillon might be new to the series, but he knows the track.

He raced at Iowa Speedway three times earlier this year, including a 28th-place finish in the Nationwide race a month ago. Dillon qualified 16th in that race, but was knocked out by an accident.

“It’s like my home track here,” he said. “It will be a good place to debut the truck. I’m just really excited to get out there and have the RCR on it.”

Skinner won 16 truck races in two years for RCR and has 26 total victories in the series, including one this year. He said he still feels an attachment to the No. 3 truck.

“It will be hard driving around in that thing, though,” he said, looking at Dillon. “Every time I was in it, everybody wanted to hit it. I thought I had a big bullseye on it. Hopefully, the bullseye will be gone and you do a good job with it. I know you will.”

Skinner is third in the Camping World Series standings with nine races to go, trailing Ron Hornady Jr. and Matt Crafton.

Hornady, who has six wins, and Crafton both will race Saturday night. Kyle Busch, winner of the last two truck events, is driving in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide races at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend.

“I think you’re going to see what you see every race in the Camping World Truck Series, which is big-time excitement,” Skinner said. “These things ricochet off each other and keep going. I think the fans love that.

“I hope they don’t use much of their seats because if they don’t, that means we put on a great show.”

Dillon is coming off a 19th-place finish in the Nationwide race at Michigan International Speedway in mid-August. After being in a car all year, he’s still trying to get a feel for the truck.

“The difference between the car and the truck here is you have to drive harder (in the truck) because you have so much downforce,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun. I think with this next practice, it will help us get better and better.”

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