Decisions, decisions: What should be done with No. 3?

Since his death three years ago, the number has rarely been seen on the track.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dale Earnhardt's famed No. 3 can be found everywhere.
On T-shirts, jackets, hats and watches.
On flags, stickers, cups and cell phones. Even on cars with replica paint schemes.
The number can be seen almost anywhere -- except on the track.
It might be like that for a while longer, too.
Although NASCAR has been reluctant to retire numbers, this one would be difficult to bring back. After all, who wants the burden of following The Intimidator?
"I'd like to see it not get on the track for at least a few more years," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. "Eventually, it's got to be on the racetrack. It's just a number. But I'm not ready for it to happen just yet."
In agreement
Neither is car owner Richard Childress, who first drove the No. 3 car in the 1970s.
"I sometimes catch myself going through the garage and looking for the black No. 3," Childress said. "The race fans got to be thinking the same thing. But I don't ever see bringing a black No. 3 car back unless there's an Earnhardt in the car."
The elder Earnhardt, a seven-time Winston Cup champion, was killed three years ago when his car hit the wall on the final lap of the Daytona 500.
His trademark number has been used in a NASCAR race just twice since -- when Junior drove it in a pair of Busch series events in 2002, including once at Daytona.
Earnhardt Jr. won the Daytona race, an emotional return to Victory Lane for the No. 3. Three months later at Lowe's Motor Speedway in his native North Carolina, Junior was back in the No. 3, but he crashed and finished 36th.
"There's a guy somewhere whose daddy raced No. 3 forever on some short track, and it probably means as much to him as it does to me," Earnhardt Jr. said.
"You've got to be fair about those type of things. I understand that, and I don't have a problem with it coming back one day."
In the numbers
Earnhardt Jr. won consecutive championships in the Busch series driving the No. 3 in 1998 and 1999. When he moved up to the Winston Cup circuit the following year, his father was still using that number so Earnhardt Jr. switched to No. 8. That was the number his grandfather, NASCAR pioneer Ralph Earnhardt, raced.
"I know a lot of fans would like to see me in the No. 3 car, but I'm pretty fond of that No. 8," Junior said. "That was my granddaddy's number, and my dad raced it some, so it has a lot of history with my family, too."
Childress has the rights to the No. 3. He took the number off his Chevrolets after Earnhardt's death, choosing to run the No. 29 with replacement driver Kevin Harvick.
Childress said he and Earnhardt Sr. often talked about who would move into the No. 3 car after his retirement, and Harvick's name often came up.
Since Earnhardt's death, Harvick has maintained he doesn't want to race the No. 3.
Car owners, drivers and race fans are split over what they would like to see happen to the number. Many believe it should be retired permanently. Others think it should return to the track -- possibly with Earnhardt Jr. behind the wheel.
Against retiring numbers
Former Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip insists Earnhardt's number should not be retired.
"I know it's not the most popular thing to say, but we've never retired a number before, so why start now?" he said.
It also has something to do with money.
Childress continues to reap benefits from owning the rights to the number. Every T-shirt, hat, flag and cup adorned with the No. 3 brings in bucks.
Childress denies his decision has anything to do with money. He said Dale Jr. has an open invitation to join RCR and race the famed black car.
He also knows Junior wants to escape his father's shadow and establish his own identity.
"He's building his own legacy in the No. 8 right now," Childress said.