On Friday night at Stafford Motor Speedway, an 80-year-old man climbed into a Ford Crown Victoria. Fittingly, he wore the No. 3 on the door. Incredibly, the last time Richard Childress raced at this track was in 1969. That was exactly 57 years ago.
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However, when asked what he remembered about that first trip, his answer was not racing-related at all.
“We didn’t have much money at all,” Richard Childress said. “We had an old ’54 Ford truck that we hauled the race car with. We got up here and had a lot of fun; we didn’t really have any idea what we were doing.”
Long before building Richard Childress Racing into one of NASCAR’s most decorated teams, Childress was an independent driver scraping by. He ran 285 Cup starts between 1969 and 1981, posting 76 top-10 finishes without ever winning.
In 1981, he got out of the car and handed the seat to Dale Earnhardt. That decision changed NASCAR history. His last competitive appearance of any kind was a Winston Legends exhibition in 1995, until Friday.
His surprise return started with Garrett Mitchell, better known online as Cleetus McFarland. In March 2026, Mitchell signed a developmental deal with RCR after Childress’ grandson, Ty Dillon, made the introduction. Mitchell now runs the No. 33 Tommy’s Express Chevrolet on a part-time basis in NASCAR’s second-tier series.
Mitchell invited Childress to race in the New England 900 at Stafford. The 80-year-old team owner accepted the offer quickly.
“I talked to Cletus, and when he asked me to do it, I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll go,'” Childress said. “I thought it’d just be fun.”
The New England 900 is an exhibition built around nitrous-powered Crown Victorias. The field mixes NASCAR drivers, drifting legends, and automotive influencers in identical machinery. Ryan Preece, Ty Dillon, and drifting star Vaughn Gittin Jr. were all on the grid. Stafford sold out every seat.
Richard Childress had not raced competitively since around 1981. On Lap 62, racing reminded him it waits for no one. He spun into the wall in Turn 2, bringing out a caution. He restarted, kept his nose clean, and finished 10th across 90 laps.
The race itself was chaos. Mitchell crashed out while battling for the lead after a collision with Preece. Under the caution that followed, the two continued their back-and-forth on track, leaving Preece with a flat tire. A subsequent restart triggered a multi-car pileup. Local short-track racer Zach Walker avoided it all and took the win.
Preece, who crossed second, posted on X,
“Cleet and I had quite the on-track battle. I was ready to tell RC to hold my watch.”
Richard Childress had said before the race that he was going to have fun. Even the wall could not argue with that.